Influence of Income Generating Activities and Resource Accessibility on Empowerment of Women in Makueni County

There is need to establish the role played by NGOs in promoting women empowerment and how this leads to reduction of the socio-economic vulnerability of women. Because of the low participation of women in decision making process, control over ownership and access of resources and wealth, increased poverty levels, increased cases of gender-based violence. This has necessitated the need to establish the role of NGOs in women empowerment in Makueni County. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the effect of income generating activities and the resource availability on women empowerment. The anchor theory for this study is the Women Empowerment Framework by Sara Longwe and the other theory used in the study include Kabeers 3-dimensional model. The study population was 60 women groups in Kalawa ward, Makueni County who have benefited from the NGOs programs. The total number of respondents were 1254 and a sample size of 294 was used. The study found that there was an influence of income generating activities on women empowerment. A unit increase in income generating activities was found to increase women empowerment by 0.323 units. The study also found that there was there was a negative influence of resource accessibility on women empowerment, implying that a unit increase in resource accessibility decreases women empowerment by 0.152 units. The study recommendations are that NGOs, National and County Governments to provide linkage to markets for the products from the income generating activities by women groups. Both Government and NGOs should develop frameworks to engage women in development agenda. Keywords: Women Empowerment, Income Generating Activities, Resource Availability