United Nations Development Programmes and economic empowerment of rural women in northern Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which United Nation Development Programes influence economic empowerment of rural women in Northern Cross River State, Nigeria. Two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. Using stratified random sampling technique. A sample of 500 rural women was selected from 20 communities for the study. A 48 items research instrument tagged: United Nations Development Programmes and Economic Empowerment Questionnaire (UNDPEEQ), developed, validated and trial-tested by the researcher, was validated used for data collection. One-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis. The instrument was validated and the reliability estimate ranged from 0.71 to 0.91, using Cronbach alpha reliability method. This reliability coefficient was considered high enough to justify the use of the instrument for the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that United Nations Development Programmes had a positive significant influence on economic empowerment of rural women. Based on the finding of the study, recommendations were made among others that women should be encouraged and also granted credit facilities to enable them increase their savings in the programmes. the current development