Access to Rural Non-Farm Livelihoods - Natural Resources Institute

evidence that shocks, such as death or major illness, are a common cause of business failure,
as assets are liquidated, indicates that there may also be a market amongst small business
owners for some form of medical insurance
Institutional weakness is an important constraint to the development of the non-farm
economy. In particular, inadequate security in more remote rural areas is a constraint to
continuing with businesses beyond a certain size, which are forced to relocate to busier
trading centres – prevention of theft is of paramount importance as confidence in the police’s
ability to apprehend suspects and the judicial system’s ability to subsequently convict the
guilty is minimal, if not non-existent. Lack of a functional police and judicial system also
limits peoples’ willingness to enter into groups or joint ventures except with those they know
personally and well, as contracts can be flouted with impunity by those with connections or
sufficient financial resources, and are essentially meaningless in the village context.
Support to such institutions would allow more flexibility in the location of small businesses,
as well in allowing people to engage in economic partnerships with individuals from outside
their immediate circle of acquaintances. Peace, security and a environment in which ‘normal
life’ is possible were all cited by members of Byakabanda as important factors (sine qua non)
in permitting the growth of both non-farm and farm IGAs.
Reproductive labour demands constrain women’s abilities to participate in other activities of
all kinds, and concerns about satisfactorily combining childcare and IGAs were voiced by
several women – the burden of childcare is also often exacerbated by the high number of
orphans and the high incidence of widowhood. In addition to reproductive and domestic
labour, women also undertake much of the farm labour, and women, far more than men, cited
lack of time, or tiredness, or overwork as a barrier to starting a new IGA or as a constraint to
an existing one. Women are particularly affected by lack of access to adequate transport, as
they do not use bicycles due cultural norms and the difficulty of riding ungeared bicycles in
the hilly terrain of the district, and are thus constrained to moving their produce and products
on their heads, often while also carrying a baby, or to paying for transport. Traditions of
weak or no property rights of women can limit their participation in IGAs as they lack places
in which to undertake them – their weaker position in society women also often causes them
to suffer more in economic terms than men from personal “misfortune”, and to find it more
difficult to recover from setbacks, affecting their abilities to accumulate start-up capital and
to keep working capital in existing businesses. Households headed by women are generally
less able to produce significant quantities of crops for sale than those with access to male
labour, and such women often turn to relatively low barrier, low profit IGAs to supplement
their incomes – opportunities for remarriage are limited as women outnumber men. Some
widows and divorcees do undertake relatively profitable non-farm IGAs, but successful
widows are at risk of exploitation by their late husband’s families. Married women are also
vulnerable in that they often do not have an equal say in when or how a business or assets
which are co-owned with their husbands are closed down or disposed of in times of stress,
particularly when a marriage is breaking up. Where they have been active, both NGO and
government development programmes have targeted women, with some successes –
however, a concern is that many of the “women’s” groups encountered include male
members, often with important roles, or were set up at the instigation of a man specifically to
access NGO support or credit.
Empowerment of women in terms of property rights could reduce some of these constraints,
while others will take more general shifts in societal attitudes.
69