The Role of Microfinance on Womenas Economic Empowerment in Southwest Ethiopia: In the Case of Four Woredas around Gilgel-Gibe Hydroelectric Power Dam

In Ethiopia, microfinance programs are currently being promoted by the government as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as a solution strategy for simultaneously addressing both poverty alleviation and women's empowerment. However, only a limited number of researches attempted to explore the relationship between women's participation in microcredit programs and their empowerment by using empirical data. To fill this gap, we conduct a cross-sectional study with overall aim of assessing the role of Micro finance institutions (MFI's) on women's empowerment. We employed a multi-stage sampling approach and a total of 374 women's, 182 (Micro finance institution) MFI clients and 192 non-clients were included in to study. Using a structured questionnaire adopted from the 2011 Ethiopian demographic health survey, we collected data on background characteristics of women's and their household and characteristics specific to women's empowerment.