EVALUATING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME IN ENHANCING ECONOMIC WELLBEING OF RURAL WOMEN IN KOGI STATE

Abstract

Economic empowerment has long been recognized as a critical factor in improving the wellbeing of vulnerable populations, particularly women in rural communities. However, poverty and inequality are prevalent challenges in Nigeria, particularly in rural areas where many households struggle with limited access to basic needs such as, healthcare, education and economic opportunities despite the intervention of successive governments in Nigeria. Guided by the Gender and Development (GAD) theoretical framework, the study employed a quantitative research design to systematically investigate the effect of Social investment programme on economic wellbeing of rural women in Kogi State, Nigeria. The population of this study consists of the 686 rural women who are beneficiaries of the initiatives in the study area, while the sample size of 254 elements were studied. The research instrument was deemed valid by experts for measuring the intended constructs and a coefficient of 0.81 obtained from the pilot study indicated that the items were adequately reliable. Multiple regression analyses was used for analysis at 0.05 level of significant. The finding reveals that there is a strong significant positive effect of government enterprises empowerment programme on the economic wellbeing of rural women in Niger State with a coefficient of 0.149 and a p-value of 0.042. Similarly, conditional cash transfer program with a coefficient of 0.167 and a p-value of 0.023 has a significant positive effect on the economic wellbeing of rural women. Conversely, National home grown school feeding programme have coefficient of 0.018 and a p-value of 0.539 and Npower Program coefficient of 0.041 and a p-value of 0.195 were not significant on economic wellbeing of rural women in Kogi State. The study implied that social investment programme has significant effect on the economic wellbeing of rural women in the study area. Drawing from the findings, the study recommends that the government strengthen and expand its social investment efforts by channeling additional resources to ensure these initiatives reach the most marginalized and economically disadvantaged rural women.