Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award of
Masters of Business Administration in Corporate Management (MBA –CM of
Mzumbe University
The study aimed at examining the role of credit unions to low income communities.
The study was set specifically to accomplish the following objectives; determine the
strategies of credit unions in poverty alleviation within low income communities,
identify methodologies used by credit unions to facilitate financial inclusion and
conduct SWOT analysis of credit unions. Causal research design and descriptive
research design were used. Quantitative data were collected by using questionnaire
and then analyzed by using statistical package for social science (SPSS). The study
was conducted at Ubungo district council in Dar es Salaam. The stratified sampling
technique, simple random techniques and purposive sampling techniques were used
to select 150 members of credit unions.
The study revealed that Credit Union provides clients with products for savings
mobilization, credit accessibility and financial advice. The study further revealed that
reasons why people save with the union were because of the ease with which they
access loans and also the lower interest rate that is charged on the loans. This has
contributed immeasurably to improve their standard of living.
The study recommends that the government should speed up the process of
promulgation credit union laws. Credit unions are very important vehicle in the
development of the economy and therefore should be giving the necessary support
and make them operate efficiently. The impact of credit unions could increase
immensely if they bridge the gap between the services they provide in relation to that
of the banks and this will help to erase the negative perceptions about credit unions
and position them well in the competitive environment.