Abstract:
This research investigated the impact of healthcare interventions by agricultural cooperatives on women's recovery during the post-COVID-19 period in Kajiado County, Kenya. Agricultural cooperatives play a pivotal role in various aspects of agriculture, contributing significantly to economic activities and development. Globally, agricultural cooperatives are recognized for their role in providing healthcare interventions, aligning with their principles of resource mobilization, pooling, and deployment. Although still developing in East Africa, this organized participation promises improved healthcare accessibility. Women encountered exacerbated health concerns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence (GBV), and mental health disorders. The pandemic disrupted agricultural value chains and impacted cooperative functions, leading to decreased member participation and financial challenges. This study explored how agricultural cooperatives addressed women's recovery in the post-COVID-19 period in Kajiado County. It examined support initiatives for women's recovery, internal healthcare mechanisms targeting women, and cooperative-led interventions in post-COVID-19 recovery. Supported by Social Capital Theory and Empowerment theory, the study focused on Kajiado County. Kajiado County was selected for its cultural diversity and economic activities and as one of three counties chosen for the WINRACK project. This research used a mixed-methods design, incorporating a sample of 373 respondents drawn from agricultural cooperatives. The quantitative approach applied non-probability purposive sampling, while the qualitative phase utilized Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions. A purposeful sampling strategy was implemented to ensure representation from cooperatives of varied sizes, activities, and demographic profiles. Data analysis combined descriptive statistics in SAS V8 and SPSS with thematic analysis in NVivo. Transcribed field notes from KIIs and FGDs were coded to identify themes, integrating quantitative and qualitative insights for comprehensive results. The unstandardized coefficient for healthcare initiatives was 0.623, indicating that for every one-unit increase in healthcare initiatives, recovery increased by 0.623 units, holding other factors constant. A strong relationship was observed between the predictors (including support initiatives, healthcare efforts, challenges, and experiences) and women’s recovery, evidenced by a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.786. The R-squared value of 0.617 suggests that these predictors account for roughly 61.7% of the variation in women’s recovery outcomes. The adjusted R Square of 0.613 confirmed that after adjusting for the number of predictors, 61.3% of the variance in recovery remained explained. The results enhance understanding of how agricultural cooperatives can effectively support women's recovery through healthcare interventions post-COVID-19. This study recommends that agricultural cooperatives should strive to develop and implement robust communication strategies to bridge the gap between awareness and actual engagement in healthcare programs for women.
