Participation of Rural Women in Vocational Training Programmes in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

The study determined the current level of participation of rural women’s in the vocational training programme in Northern Nigeria and strategies of improving rural women’s participation in the vocational training programme. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted a mixed method using quantitative and qualitative research methods. The study was carried out in Northern Nigeria, and three states were sampled from each geopolitical zone. Multistage sampling technique was used to sample 4,500 subjects; 1,500 subjects from each zone. Questionnaire and focus group discussion guide were the instruments for data collection. Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the reliability coefficient of each cluster 0.87 and 0.89; while the coefficient of the entire 23 items questionnaire was found to be 0.91. Questionnaire return rate was 83.36%. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to analyse the data to answer the research questions, while Levene’s test Statistic, one–way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe Post Hoc test were used to test the hypotheses. Focus group discussion was made under two major themes; women’s level of participation and strategies for improving women participation in vocational training. Findings, among others, were; the participation of rural women was low and creating awareness among rural women on the importance of vocational training was the prominent strategy identified for improving women’s participation in vocational training. The study recommended, among others that, there is a need to create awareness on the importance of vocational training for women and to increase the number of women trainers.