Moderating effect of gender on the relationships between extension worker availability, individual factors and empowerment among members of self-help groups in North-Eastern Nigeria

This study was designed to determine the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between extension worker availability, individual factors (participation and volunteerism) and empowerment among members of self-help groups in North-Eastern Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to; 1) determine the level of empowerment among the SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria, 2) determine the level of extension worker availability, participation and volunteerism among the SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria, 3) determine the relationship between extension worker availability, participation and volunteerism among the SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria, 4) determine the overall contribution of extension worker availability, participation and volunteerism on empowerment of SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria, and 5) determine the moderating effect of gender on the relationships between extension worker availability, participation, volunteerism variables with empowerment among the SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria. Data for the study were solicited from 373 SHG members through self-report questionnaire. The SHG members were randomly selected through a multi-stage cluster sampling approach from a total of 11,021 accessible populations of the three (3) selected states: Taraba, Gombe and Yobe. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS graphics were employed to analyze the data. Level of empowerment, extension worker availability, participation and volunteerism was measured using mean scores categorized into high, moderate and low. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the SHG members are at the high and moderate level of economic, social and psychological empowerment; majority of the SHG members are in high and moderate level of participation and volunteerism; and also level of extension worker availability was at high and moderate level. The findings further revealed that there was no significant relationship between extension worker availability and participation; no significant relationship between extension worker availability and volunteerism; however, there was significant relationship between participation and volunteerism among SGH members’ in North-Eastern Nigeria. Moreover, volunteerism was found to have significantly contributed to social and psychological empowerment, while participation significantly contributed to economic empowerment among SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria. In addition, all the selected variables were found to be contributors to the economic, social and psychological empowerment of the SHG members, the results showed that greater contribution was in psychological empowerment. The moderation test revealed gender is a moderator in relationship between participation and economic empowerment; volunteerism and psychological empowerment as well as volunteerism and economic empowerment of SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria. Based on the findings the researcher concludes that SHG members in North-Eastern Nigeria are in high and moderate level of empowerment and the level of extension worker availability is high. Extension worker availability predicts empowerment of SHG members, but the contribution is higher in the psychological component. Moreover, high level of participation leads to high level of economic empowerment as well as psychological empowerment. Gender (female) is a very important factor in empowerment of SHG members among SHG members in North-eastern Nigeria. The study recommends that further studies should be conducted on individual factors; all government and non-governmental organizations in Nigeria should encourage extension educators to motivate SHG members for participation in all development initiatives towards their self-reliance.

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