Unregistered Village Community Banking as a Human Resource Strategy to Women’s Leadership Empowerment in Arusha District, Tanzania

Abstract

Women’s leadership empowerment within informal community financial systems remains a growing concern in Tanzania. Although Village Community Banking (VICOBA) groups as small local savings and lending groups that help women improve their lives, They are recognized for promoting economic inclusion, about 70 percent of them operate without formal registration, limiting access to structured human resource support, training, and recognition essential for leadership development. Women constitute over 55 percent of all VICOBA participants nationwide, yet fewer than 30 percent hold formal leadership or decision-making roles. This study mainly explored how unregistered VICOBAs act as a human resource (HR) strategy for developing women’s leadership in Arusha District. It specially focus to understand how unregistered VICOBAs help women gain HR-related skills such as: Teamwork, Conflict resolution, financial management, Problem-solving. The study was guided by the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Empowerment Theory. This study used a qualitative research approach Guided by the interpretivist philosophy and a phenomenological design, it focused on understanding women’s experiences and meanings from their group participation. Twenty (20) women and two groups were selected as determined by level of saturation through snowball sampling, which helped reach members of informal groups. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with six participants each. The data were analysed thematically to identify key patterns related to teamwork, conflict resolution, financial management, and problem-solving. Ethical principles such as informed consent, confidentiality, and voluntary participation were maintained to ensure credibility and trustworthiness. The results show that unregistered VICOBAs enhance women’s leadership empowerment through four key HR-related aspects: teamwork, conflict resolution, financial management, and problem-solving. Participation in these areas enables women to build confidence, improve communication, and strengthen decision-making ability. However, the study also found that inadequate formal training, gender-related barriers, and limited institutional support restrict women’s progress in leadership development. The study concludes that unregistered VICOBAs can serve as important informal HR systems that help women gain leadership experience through experiential learning, shared responsibility, and peer mentoring. It recommends that local governments and NGOs support these groups through leadership training, financial education, and legal recognition to make their impact sustainable.