Microfinance Performance Analysis From A Gender Perspective: Zambia

Micro finance and or micro credit programmes in many countries are being used as tools of poverty alleviation among the poor. The purpose of this research was to analyze the performance of beneficiaries of such programmes and projects from a gender perspective using a mixed method approach. Each cluster had forty beneficiaries making a sample of 120 with a 50% representation of each gender. Findings have indicated that women from the women- only group performed much better followed by the mixed group. The findings further show that men from men-only groups were the worst users of loans. The portfolio at-risk for the women-only group was healthier than that of the men only group. Further, findings also indicate that women-only groups recorded the highest income increments in the last two years than the other two groups. Finally, analysis of results also indicates that age of clients had an influence on loan repayment capacity. Ages of between 31 to 40 years were found to be the best loan repayment performers. The findings of the research have made recommend that planners and micro finance institutions should focus on policy decisions to further improve the performance of women.