THE IMPACTS OFPARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY BASEDRURAL SAVING AND CREDITCOOPERATIVESON WOMEN INCOME: THE CASE OF SINANA WOREDA, BALE ZONE, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

Community based saving and credit is one of the most powerful tools that contribute to the livelihoods of
many rural people through provision of financial and supporting services to the poor. In light of the
problems and the research gaps identified, this study was sought to address and generate information on
the impact of participation in community based rural saving and credit cooperatives on women total
annual income. The study was conducted in Sinana district of Bale zone, Oromiaregional state. A total of
378 sample respondentswere selected through multi-stage sampling techniques. First, Sinana district was
purposefully selected. Then after, a simple random sampling technique was employed to select six
Kebeles. Finally, by stratified random sampling technique 378 sample women from the selected six
Kebeles were selected. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as frequency, percentage, t-
test, chi-square test, logistic regression, and propensity score matching methods were employed for data
analysis. The results of the logit regression model identified that family size, distances from rural saving
and credit cooperative center and dependency ratio were negatively affected the participation; whereas
marital status, education status, participation in training, credit use, and amount of loan borrowed were
positively affected women’sparticipation in from rural saving and credit cooperatives. Propensity score
matching method was also employed to determine the impacts of membership in from rural saving and
credit cooperative on womanincome. The estimation result implied that, on average, participation of
women in from rural saving and credit cooperative have increased amount of annual income by
9263.94birr during the survey year. The estimated average treatment effect showed that participation of
women in from rural saving and credit cooperative has significant impact on income of participant
women with significant t-statistic (25.42) at 1% significance level. The average amount of income of
participant women was higher by 61.14% when compared with the average amount of income of non-
participantwomen in the study area during survey year.Therefore, the government in collaboration with
the stakeholders of from rural saving and credit cooperative should give more attention in improving
rural saving and credit cooperatives in order to develop the participation of women in from rural saving and credit cooperative and enhance their annual income increment in the study area.2