Description:
This study examines the Contribution of Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies
(SACCOS) on Promoting Rural Livelihood in Makungu ward, Mufindi district. The study uses a case study of Muvikima SACCOS in understanding its contributions in promoting rural livelihood. Mixed research method both quantitative and qualitative approach were used to capture data from the study area, include, 100 household survey, 20 key informant interviews and 4 groups discussion. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is the software program applied for quantitative data analysis, while descriptive and content analysis was adopted for qualitative data. The findings revealed that, SACCOS have played minimal role towards promoting rural livelihoods in the study area, the feature that made poverty situation to persist to the community members. Majority of SACCOS members failed to repay back the loan due to high dependency on agriculture sector which is not promising as depends on rainfall variability and it is seasonal. There was also partial involvement of SACCOS members in planning and decision making, the situation which has led to inadequate management of the Muvikima SACCOS. The paper conclude that, Muvikima SACCOS has minimal contributions in promoting rural livelihoods in Makungu Ward, and recommend that,to ensure effective contribution of SACCOS in the promotion of rural livelihood, SACCOS should develop strategies in addressing the root causes of rural poverty including limited human resources, inadequate physical capital, insufficient financial capital and support activities that meet needs of rural people than concentrating in business sector only.