New Journal Article by two MADM Alumni

Nardos Legesse Beyene, Alumnus of IEE’s MA in Development Management, together with Prof. Mulugeta F. Dinbabo, also IEE Alumnus and nowadays Acting Director of the Institute for Social Development, IEE’s partner institution at the University of the Western Cape/South Africa, published an article on

An Empirical Evaluation of the Link between Women Participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia

Women's participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy. It facilitates women's direct engagement in decision-making and is a means of ensuring better accountability to women. This paper assesses the impact of women participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) on poverty reduction in Hawassa city, Ethiopia. Using a mixed research methodology, and applying propensity score matching, the study found that women participation in VSLA has a significant positive impact in increasing average monthly household income of participant woman. Besides, women participation in VSLA has a significant positive association with improvements in household diet, health, children’s education, and women’s involvement in household decisions. The study recommends a reinforcement of government and nongovernmental organizations in providing regular and need based capacity building trainings for VSLA participants followed by a concerted effort to link VSLA participants with formal microfinance institutions.

In: Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Volume 8, 2019, pp. 566-580 (full text downloadable here)