@article{MWALUGHALI:157595,
      recid = {157595},
      author = {MWALUGHALI, OBED GILBERT FREDRICK},
      title = {THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION  PROGRAM ON HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND CREDIT MARKET PARTICIPATION  IN KASUNGU DISTRICT, CENTRAL MALAWI},
      address = {2013-03},
      number = {634-2016-41480},
      pages = {128},
      year = {2013},
      abstract = {This study analyses the impact of Community Savings and  Investment Program (COMSIP) activities on household income  and credit of member households of COMSIP groups in Kasungu  District in Central Malawi. COMSIP groups are a form of  village-based microcredit and community-based savings  institutions with a number of socio-economic functions. The  functions include mobilization of communities to save  and/or invest their resources into income generating  initiatives and provide credit. Using data from COMSIP  Cooperative Union limited for Kasungu District in Malawi on  income per capita and access to credit, this study tests  the hypothesis that these variables were positively  impacted on by membership to these COMSIP groups. The study  uses Instrumental Variables (IV) methodology organized to  reduce selection bias as well as endogeneity problems in  the sample. The primary data on socio-economic and  demographic variables was collected using household  questionnaires, Key Informant Interviews and literature  review as tools from a sample of 150 households. The study  found that the variables such as sex of household head, age  of household head, credit per capita, land per capita and  distance of location of household to the COMSIP office,  determine household decision to join COMSIP  groups.
Instrumental Variables analysis results show that  the effect of COMSIP groups on household income and credit  is very strong. The IV estimates indicate an increase of  88% income per capita and 96% increase in credit per capita  of relatively poor participating households was significant  at 5% and 1% levels of significance respectively. The  findings also indicate that the simple targeting mechanism  of COMSIP program based on household
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land ownership is  effective. Thus, the efficiency of the COMSIP program can  be enhanced by allocating credit to households with  marginal landholding, for which the impact is the greatest.  Although microfinance programs, especially among the rural  poor people living below the standard poverty line of one  US dollar per day have elicited different reactions from  different stakeholders, there seems to be a general  agreement that the program is useful amongst the strategies  for ensuring improved household income and credit of rural  Malawians, hence reduced poverty in the long-run.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/157595},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.157595},
}