IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0002395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the potential of village community banking as a community-based financing system for house improvements and malaria vector control in rural Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Winifrida P Mponzi
  • Dickson S Msaky
  • Peter Binyaruka
  • Emmanuel W Kaindoa

Abstract

House improvement is associated with remarkable reductions in indoor mosquito bites and disease incidences, even in typical rural houses. However, its exploitation remains extremely poor in Tanzania and other endemic countries due to limited financial resources. Nevertheless, village community banks (VICOBA), practiced in Tanzania for nearly two decades, have proven to provide financial services to rural communities that would otherwise not be able to get them from formal financial institutions. This study explored the need, opinion, and willingness of VICOBA members to use VICOBA platforms as a source of finance for improving local houses and eventually controlling mosquito-borne diseases. A mixed-methods approach was used in this study, whereby a survey was administered to 150 participants and twelve focus group discussions were done in three villages in Ulanga district, rural Tanzania. The FGDs comprised eight participants each, with equal representation of males and females. The FGD guide was used to probe the opinions of study participants on malaria transmission, housing condition improvements, and financial resources. About 99% of all participants indicated the urgent need to improve their houses to prevent mosquito bites and were willing to utilize VICOBA for improving their houses. In the focus group discussion, the majority of people who participated were also in need of improving their houses. All participants confirmed that they were at the highest risk of getting mosquito-borne diseases, and they were willing to use money that was either saved or borrowed from their VICOBA for housing improvements and vector control. A self-sustaining financial system destined for house improvement and related interventions against malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases is crucial. The community members were willing to use VICOBA as a source of finance for house improvement and disease control; however, there was limited knowledge and sensitization on how they could utilize VICOBA for disease control.

Suggested Citation

  • Winifrida P Mponzi & Dickson S Msaky & Peter Binyaruka & Emmanuel W Kaindoa, 2023. "Exploring the potential of village community banking as a community-based financing system for house improvements and malaria vector control in rural Tanzania," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(11), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0002395
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002395
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002395
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002395&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002395?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Josephat Lotto, 2018. "Examination of the Status of Financial Inclusion and Its Determinants in Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Godfred Anakpo & Zizipho Xhate & Syden Mishi, 2023. "The Policies, Practices, and Challenges of Digital Financial Inclusion for Sustainable Development: The Case of the Developing Economy," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Adriana Medina-Vidal & Patricia Esther Alonso-Galicia & Miguel González-Mendoza & María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya, 2025. "Financial inclusion of vulnerable sectors with a gender perspective: risk analysis model with artificial intelligence based on complex thinking," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Josephat Lotto, 2022. "Understanding financial inclusion in East Africa: How does Tanzania compare?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1075-1084, January.
    4. Thereza Balliester Reis, 2022. "Socio‐economic determinants of financial inclusion: An evaluation with a microdata multidimensional index," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 587-611, April.
    5. Mirjana Pejić Bach & Živko Krstić & Sanja Seljan & Lejla Turulja, 2019. "Text Mining for Big Data Analysis in Financial Sector: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-27, February.
    6. Yaya Koloma, 2021. "Financial inclusion and entrepreneurship willingness of youth: Evidence from Mali," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 263-275, June.
    7. Rajesh Barik & Sanjaya Kumar Lenka, 2022. "Demand-Side and Supply-Side Determinants of Financial Inclusion in Indian States: Evidence from Post-Liberalization Period," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 8(1), pages 7-25, May.
    8. Ariel Herbert FAMBEU & Patricia Tchawa YOMI, 2022. "State fragility and the determinants of women’s financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 56, pages 61-76.
    9. Wilberforce Witts & Severine Kessy, 2023. "Demographics as Moderator Between Perceived Easy of Use, Individual Awareness and Adoption of Mobile Financial Services," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(12), pages 1-53, February.
    10. Amit Pandey & Ravi Kiran & Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2023. "Investigating the Determinants of Financial Inclusion in BRICS Economies: Panel Data Analysis Using Fixed-Effect and Cross-Section Random Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    11. NGONYANI, Danstun, 2022. "Financial Inclusion In Developing Countries. A Review Of The Literature On The Costs And Implications," Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 26(1), pages 54-77, March.
    12. Mohammed Hersi Warsame & Yousif Abdelbagi Abdalla, 2024. "Impact of mobile financial services on financial inclusion: empirical insights from Kenya," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 71(3), pages 633-666, September.
    13. Kalandi Charan Pradhan & Ritik Sharma, 2022. "Assessing the spatiotemporal financial inclusion and its determinants: a sub-national analysis of India," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 635-681, June.
    14. Hiroyuki Egami & Tomoya Matsumoto, 2020. "Mobile Money Use and Healthcare Utilization: Evidence from Rural Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-34, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0002395. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.