Education, social capital and quality of life among women in rural mountain areas in Uganda

• In Event: Women's issues & rural education

Proposal

People living in remote and isolated areas often have limited access to social infrastructure such as education, health care, transportation and other economic opportunities. In 2014, a community based organization (CBO), AMPA (Actions for Mountain People in Africa) started with the following mission; to contribute to building local knowledge in relation to sustainable population growth and sustainable agricultural practices. AMPA is also focused on providing increased access to quality social and population health services in the mountain regions of Uganda beginning with Kasese situated in the Western Mountain on the Rwenzori Mountains. The Ugandan government has classified this area as ‘hard to reach’ in delivering health care and other services. As a result, people living in the area have poorer health outcomes and higher levels of poverty.

Beginning in June 2014, AMPA has conducted a series of research projects in order to understand the context of life in the area with a focus on education, health, and poverty. In 2015, four hundred forty households from six sub-counties of Kilembe and Mahango districts participated in a cross-sectional study. AMPA has published one article and several conference proceedings. The majority of the participants were female (66 %) with mean age of 37 years (standard deviation=11.4 years). The proportion of households receiving monthly income was very low at four percent. Accordingly, 99 percents of the participants reported that their household income was barely adequate (40%) or totally inadequate (59%) to meet daily expenses.

Our initial analysis of the data highlighted the following findings. About 18 percent of the participants had not attended any school. Twenty seven percents had more than secondary level of education. Using chi-square test, we found that statistically significant relationships (p value less than 0.05) between educational participation and numerous educational behaviors (child’s school enrollment, participation of training and educational programs in the community), economic profiles (employment, income adequacy) and health behaviors (using modern contraceptive methods, taking HIV tests, accessing to health care services). These preliminary findings suggest that school attendance, regardless years of education, is associated with positive educational, economic, and health behavior. Meanwhile, children spent 54 minutes one-way to get to school on foot and females (78%) were less likely to have attended school than males (91%). We also found differences by Kasese villages, which posits a need for further analysis.

The research findings informed us of community educational and training needs, especially for young women who often did not finish 7 years of primary education. IN response, we have designed a program called ‘Village Learning Network (VLN)’. The VLN is a community of practice based learning group with a focus on women’s empowerment through economic opportunities, life skills sessions, and joining social networks through both in-person and mobile network. In addition to the educational component, the VLN aims to help women to build social networks and social capital in the village through a variety of active learning activities.

Additional analysis will focus on the relation between social capital and its relationship to education and quality of life. Social capital is “features and resources -- social norm and trust, embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive action” according to Nan Lin’s Network theory of Social Capital. Lin articulates how purposive actions to access and mobilize available social capital can yield positive returns for any given inequality. There are two types of returns: instrumental and expressive. Through instrumental returns, one can expect economic, political, and social returns. Expressive returns can be physical health, mental health, or life satisfaction. People with high social capital have better health outcomes, including higher self-rated health status and lower mortality. As individuals strive to maintain social relationships, which provide emotional support and access to certain resources, assaurances and recognition from the network reinforce social relationships.

Social capital is positively associated with economic status and level of education. Despites its attenuation of the effect when seperated from economic status, social capital is known to have an independent effect on positive health outcomes. Yet, relationship between level/type of education and social capital is not clear and there is a lack of research for people living in poverty with low level of education in rural mountainous area. In addition, studies found that social capital decreased among women in childbearing age. It it important to note that women, particularly, women in vulnerable situations can benefit from social capital. Our preliminary findings and other studies suggest needs for further research, which leads to our research questions. We hypothesize that level of education is positively associated with higher social capital. If so, 1) is the relationship independent from each other? Our hypothesis is that 2) social capital mediates the relationship between education and positive outcomes such as health.

The following statistical analysis will be conducted. As for the first research question, multiple linear regression will be used to test independent effect of education and social capital on positive health outcomes measured by quality of life. As for the second research question, path analysis will be used to test social capital as a mediator between education and quality of life. This research will guide us to design more effective and sustainable VLN for women in the villages. We will also discuss whether the informal learning networks can be a quality learning opportunity for women who had minimal education (less than 7 years of primary education).

Authors

• Wendy Green, Cleveland State University

• Richard Muhindo, Makerere University

• soson jong, San Francisco General Hospital