Analysis of the Relationship between Women Access of Micro Credit and Women Utilisation of Micro Credit in Rwanda

The study aimed to analyze of the relationship between women access of micro credit and women utilization of
micro credit in Rwanda specifically to determine the level of women access to microfinance in BRAC
Microfinance, to establish the factors influencing women‘s utilization of microfinance BRAC Microfinance and to
analyze the relationship between women‘s access to microfinance and women‘s utilization of microfinance in
BRAC Microfinance. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study population was 1200 BRAC
Microfinance women customers; a sample of 64 respondents was selected from customers using simple random
sampling. Both primary and secondary data was used. Data were gathered using questionnaires. Data was analyzed
using descriptive statistics and presented by frequency tables and percentage. Findings show that most of women
benefiting from micro credit of BRAC Microfinance borrow an amount averaging 500,000 (23.4%), the second
borrow an amount averaging 250,000 (45.3%), the third borrow an amount averaging 200,000 (20.4%) and finally
the third proportion borrow an amount averaging 100,000 (10.9%). Results also show that that majority of
respondents 98.4% of respondents agreed that skills is a factor that affect women‘s utilization of microfinance
institution. 73.4% of respondents agreed that education and training affect women‘s utilization of microfinance
institution. 53.1% of respondents agreed that Government policy affect women‘s utilization of microfinance
institution while 40.6% of respondents agreed that asset development is a factor that affects women‘s utilization of
microfinance institution. Findings show that 100% of respondents agreed that there is relationship between
women‘s access and women utilization of microfinance in Rwanda. The coefficient of correlation R= .886
indicating that there is a positive relationship between micro credit access and micro credit ulization as denoted Y.
Moreover, the Adjusted R squared is equal to 0.787 indicates that there was variation of 78.7% on Micro credit
utilization within BRAC Microfinance due to improve their micro credit access. The study recommended that
financial institutions should raise the amount of credits to the women businesses to increase access to credit
facilities. Similarly, the regulators of micro finance institutions should have a policy that will control the rate of
interest charged by Microfinance Institutions.