WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH COOPERATIVES IN ANAMBRA STATE

ABSTRACT In this study, women empowerment through cooperatives in Anambra State. The sources of the data used for this research were primary and secondary data. out of a total of two hundred twenty-five (225) indigenous women Anambra state, Nigeria were given questionnaire to fill. One hundred and fifty (150) of the population answered, completed and returned the questionnaire. The descriptive method was used to analyze the data generated for the research. 87% of the respondents in the study area said that cooperative is important, 93% of the total population joined cooperative. 140(93%) respondent agreed that the cooperative empowerment programmes help alleviate the living standard of its beneficiaries in their community. The study hereby reveals that cooperative societies has impacted significantly on the living standard of its beneficiaries in any of their empowerment development and in alleviation of poverty in rural communities. The study also conclude that more women should take advantage of the cooperatives in their localities and bail out of poverty and hardship and to better their lives. There is recognition among development experts that women are central participants in the socio-economic development process. There is therefore a growing consensus that women’s greater involvement in all aspect of development programmes is extremely important for the rational utilization of development resources which has hitherto remained under estimated and neglected. A lot therefore remains to be done in order to involve women effectively into co-operative development. However, the opportunities for improving women’s position and the potential for co-operatives to contribute to such a process do exist. From the findings, the researcher came to a final decision that cooperative societies impacts significantly on the living standard of its beneficiaries in any of their empowerment programmes. This means that cooperative societies helps in community development and in alleviation of poverty in rural communities.