Nigeria for women project (NFWP) and social cohesion in rural livelihoods

Purpose The purpose of this paper is critically examine the Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of NFWP on social cohesion in entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a quasi-experimental research design to address the scarcity of quantitative studies on women’s groups in Nigeria. A total of 2,400 respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the six geographical regions of the country. Findings Results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that though scrimpy, the NFWP intervention targeted specifically for the empowerment of women, using the women’s affinity group model has recorded significant set up in improving women’s formation of social capital through advocacy, awareness creation, provision of credit, training of women on skill acquisition, among other activities. Practical implications This suggests that an increase in NFWP budget that seeks to expand participation of women in women’s groups, targeted at increasing women’s social cohesion, especially in the rural communities will help lift women and girls out of poverty in the country. Social implications It implies that women’s groups that serve as production cooperatives, saving associations and marketing groups can enhance women’s performance in entrepreneurship development and boost rural economy production in Nigeria. Originality/value This research contributes to the growing field of female entrepreneurial collaboration by proposing the moderation of social cohesion as a means to sustain agriculture and rural development in developing countries. It concludes that targeting women’s groups should form the foundation of public policy for social cohesion in women’s entrepreneurship development for rural economy.