Assets and constraints : women micro-entrepreneurs and their contributions to community development in Ghana

Abstract

As women micro-entrepreneurs in Ghana have been gaining increasing access to economic opportunities through community development initiatives focused on microenterprises, one would expect that this should enhance their contributions to community development. This is not always the case as the ability of women micro-entrepreneurs to promote community-wide impacts are sometimes prevented by the existence of certain constraints. This thesis argues that women micro-entrepreneurs can foster community development by enhancing the economic welfare of their communities, the community stock of capital assets and acting as agents of community development. Using qualitative methodology and by undertaking two case studies of Abokobi and Kumasi in Ghana, this thesis shows that women micro-entrepreneurs did much for the community's economic and capital asset base. However, the participation of women micro-entrepreneurs more as beneficiaries of community development programmes and less as active agents of change limited their involvement at all stages of the community development process.