Browsing by Author "Elias, Livingstone"

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Socio-cultural constraints to poverty reduction strategies in coast region, Tanzania
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2010) Elias, Livingstone
Coast Region is among the four poorest Regions in Tanzania with a variety of ethnic groups, habits, customs, and life styles. Though there have been a number of poverty reduction strategies implemented in the Region, poverty has continued to be stubborn. There is inadequate information on how culture impedes the poverty reduction strategies. hence the purpose of this study was to determine socio-cultural constraints towards poverty reduction strategies in Coast Region. It specifically focused on determining communities’ awareness and perceptions of their prevailing poverty, to identify major socio-cultural practices conducted in the study area at different seasons of the year, to examine the extent to which communities are aware of available resources and their accessibility and lastly to determine gender relations in decision-making, division of labour and ownership of resources. A cross-sectional research design was adopted while purposive sampling technique was used to select two Districts. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select wards, villages and heads of households. The quantitative data were analyzed using the SPSS computer software while qualitative data were analyzed by functional content analysis. Binary regression model was used to find relations between variables. The research findings revealed that marriage types, working hours, household size, religion, divorces, early marriages and cultural ceremonies were significant at P<0.05, hence they impact negatively on poverty reduction strategies. The study recommends that good cultural practices need to be maintained while old fashioned cultural practices should be abolished. The study calls for more enforcement of bylaws and involvement of women in decision making organs.