Local Institutions And Empowerment For Poor Women In Nigeria

Abstract

Active participation of local institutions has been recognized to be essential in putting up a broad united front against poverty. While many communities in Nigeria have these local institutions in large numbers, their performance in poverty reduction activities has not been adequate. Adopting the feminist, structural and action perspectives, this study explores the linkages between local institutions and poverty reduction strategies by examining women\'s evaluation and the profiles of existing local institutions as pivots for development at the community level. The study found that just as politics and social life are affected by pressures for economic efficiency and by economic power, poverty reduction action is embedded in and indeed presupposes social institutions and political decisions. In this sense, the success of poverty reduction strategies is both politically and socially determined. The study concludes that there is the need to empower women constituency groups in order to make them effective tools in the development process. Active participation in the political process is also a factor in this regard.

Keywords: Local institutions, poverty reduction, women empowerment.

Gender and Behaviour Vol. 6 (1) 2008: pp. 1591-1602