Determinants of Women Participation on Watershed Management in Gibe Sub Catchment of Nono Benja District Jimma Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Watersheds, especially in the developing world, are increasingly being managed for poverty alleviation as well as for environmental conservation. In Ethiopia, watershed management.Program started in 1970. However, it achieved limited success due to its failure in addressing the problems of local people. Women’s knowledge and role in watershedmanagement is largely unrecognized, especially at catchment level.The objective of this studyis to identify the determinants of women participation on watershed management, in Nono Benja district ofJimma Zone. Two stage sampling techniques were used to select sample respondents. In the first stage, from 19 kebele of the district, 6 kebeles were selected by simple random sampling, In the second stage 248 respondents were selected based on probability proportional to the size of population. The necessary data were generated both from primary and secondary sources to answer the research question. Hence, field observation, household survey, key informant interview and focus group discussions were the principal means of generating primary sources of data while secondary data were obtained from reviewing various governmental documents and reports,books and Academic research papers Econometric Model were employed for analyzing data.SPSS version 20 and STATA version 13 software were used for data analysis. The results of the binary logit model indicated that, age, education, training, credit were positively and significantly related to the probability of women participation in watershed management while off farm income was negatively and significantly related to the probability of women participation. Thus, there is need for policies aiming at enhancing women’s participation in watershed management by promoting training, providing extension services,off farm income as well as facilitating access to credit services. Policy and development emphasis on these factors would lead to greater participation in Nono Benja watershed development programme