The Effectiveness of Micro Credit Organizations in Achieving Economic Empowerment of women in Tulkarem Governorate From The point of view of Organizations'Managers and the Beneficiaries

The research aims to investigate the current economic situation of the Palestinian women in Tulkarm Governorate and examine the role of the microfinance institutions to empower them. To that goal the researcher aimed to identify microfinance institutions working in Tulkarm Governorate to compare their programs, regulations, policies and objectives.Measure the influence of the microfinance institutions in empowering women in Tulkarm Governorate.Examine the facilitations provided to women in order to increase her chances in contributing in the economic life and in controlling the available resources.Interpret the proliferation of the microfinance institutions in Tulkarm Governorate and examine how far they contribute to women empowerment The research aims to answer few important questions. Do the microfinance institutions contribute to the women beneficiaries’ economic empowerment (where she is able to achieve financial security)?Do the microfinance institutions support the success of women beneficiaries’ project through preparing the project’s feasibility study?How does the microfinance institutions evaluate women’ awareness of micro financing as a process?What are the facilitations, special offers and exceptions offered for micro financing women’ projects?Do the microfinance institutions offer tailed practical training programs to support women beneficiaries in their project management? What degree of satisfaction do women beneficiaries feel about the microfinance institutions’ support to them? The findings of the research will redound to the benefit of microfinance institutions’ policy makers and strategic planners as they will be able to evaluate their programs and rebuilt them, if necessary, in order to maximize their role in supporting women economic activities. The research used a Multimethod Research that simultaneously combines and integrates the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative methods. The integration center lies in new approaches for data collection, and a research design that combines element of one method (such as structured questionnaires and data analysis) with elements of another method (in-depth interviews). The research uses four domains closed structured questionnaire that consists of 25 questions, that is delivered to a total of 118 women beneficiaries of a total of 2133 (5.5%) throughout the eight microfinance institutions that works in Tulkarm Governorate and an open ethnographic interview. After collecting the data and analyzing it the researcher found that the finance institution did not contribute much valuable importance to the women borrowers because of the unusual definition and difference in the understanding of the significance of empowerment. The institutions concentrate on finance as a form of empowerment while the researcher includes non-financial aspects of empowerment including resource affordability, training, sharing and training. Based on this the researcher recommended the widening of the concept and definition of empowerment to include such non-financial aspects of empowerment as a requirement for financing to be considered an empowerment which should be directed at women’s benefits rather than the nbenfit of the financing institutions.