Influence of Risk Management Practices on the Sustainability of Government-Funded Women’s Agaseke Cooperatives in Kicukiro District, Rwanda

Mirembe Babrah and Naomi Nduta Njoroge
Mount Kigali University, Rwanda
Email: mirembebabrah001@gmail.com

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of risk management practices on the sustainability of government-funded women’s Agaseke Cooperatives in Kicukiro District, Rwanda, specifically the influence of risk identification, risk mitigation and risk monitoring. A descriptive cross-sectional survey within a convergent mixed-methods design was adopted. The population of 450 comprised 15 chairpersons, 45 executive committee members and 385 general members of the 15 active Agaseke Cooperatives, plus five officials of the Rwanda Cooperative Agency. Yamane’s formula gave a sample of 212, allocated proportionately and selected through stratified, purposive and simple random sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire (n = 196; α = .954), interview guides and a documentary analysis checklist. Quantitative data were analyzed in SPSS 26 using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple regression, while interviews and documents were analyzedthematically. Risk identification (β = .395), risk mitigation (β = .315) and risk monitoring (β = .281) each had a significant influence on sustainability (all p < .001) and together explained 65.8% of its variance (R² = .658; F(3, 192) = 123.246, p < .001). Interview and documentary evidence corroborated these results. The study concludes that systematically identifying, mitigating and monitoring risks strengthens the sustainability of such cooperatives. It recommends simple risk registers, contingency reserves, product and market diversification and monthly risk reviews in cooperatives, and a practical risk-management guideline and post-handover monitoring framework from the Rwanda Cooperative Agency and Kicukiro District.