Abstract
Access to and utilization of information makes individuals to be more rational, increases decision-making abilities and allow to take informed decisions. Hence the purposes of this study were to assess rural women’s access to and utilization of development information related to reproductive, productive and community roles performed by them in a case study conducted in Dire Dawa Administrative Council, Eastern Ethiopia. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select 160 sample households. The data were obtained using quantitative survey and complimented with focus group discussion and field observations. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that, almost none of them had frequent (four times and more per year) reproductive role information access. The most accessible items on sometimes (once in a year) time interval were avoiding unexpected pregnancy (75.6%), vaccine for new born baby (67.5%) and hygiene of children (62.5%). However, 54.4% of them were not utilizing the information due to practical infeasibility of the information, lack of capital, shortage of water and cultural and religious influence. The same trend had been observed in access and utilization of productive and community role information. About 53.1% and 70% respondents were not having access at all to productive and community role information respectively. Only 20% and 5% of respondents were utilizing accessible productive and community role information respectively. Poor agro-ecological condition, lack of physical access to resources, agricultural extension contact and capital to buy agricultural inputs are among the reasons given by those who are not utilizing the accessible information. Therefore, special attention should be paid in selecting communication channels that are most appropriate to reach and empower rural women. Moreover, communication programs and development information providers must deal with the various economic and social issues affecting women, including education, agriculture, health, nutrition, family planning, population growth, and the environment.
Key words: Access, utilization, development information, rural women.
