Abstract:
Low access to financial services leading to food insecurity and shacky livelihoods continue to challenge most communities in Malawi. As a way to address this challenge, communities have resorted to promoting savings-led informal micro finance model called Village Savings and Loans (VSLA). This study therefore, aimed to assess how VSLAs impacts on food security and livelihood strategies of rural communities through a study done in TA Kilipula in Karonga District. The study applied a triangulation mixed study design which engaged 52 sampled VSLA households as, 47 sampled non-VSLA households and 10 purposively sampled VSLA groups. The sampled households were engaged in a household interview while the 10 VLSAs groups were involved in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) for data collection. Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-Square test and independent t – test were used to analyse quantitatively gathered data for objectives 1 and 2 using SPSS (version 20), while FGD gathered data under objective 3 was analysed thematically. The study results shows that VSLA has a positive impact on food
security at household level. All the 5 variables (household food availability and consumption, livestock ownership, crop diversification, household income) for measuring this objective shows significant difference (P=0.01) between VSLA and non-VSLA households. The study also revealed that VSLA has an influence on diverse livelihood strategies and other livelihoods outcomes and hence sustainable livelihoods. Four variables (Human, Physical, Financial, Social and Natural) out of five variables, for measuring VSLA influence on diverse livelihood strategies and other outcomes showed significant differences with only Human capital presenting insignificant differences. Further, the results shows that the VSLA loans and payouts are being used more on investments that are contributing to sustainable livelihoods.
The study concludes that VSLAs have a positive impact on food security at household level and a great contribution to sustainable livelihoods of communities in TA Kilipula. The loans and payouts are facilitating investments in livelihoods activities critical for food security, diverse livelihood strategies and other livelihoods outcomes hence sustainable livelihoods. The initiative has also proven to be an instrument towards poverty reduction at community level and therefore worth scaling up. Further, the study recommends further research on the topic by applying other SLA methodologies for a stronger conclusion on the impact of VSLA on food security.
