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1
Lackey, Douglas Eugene. "Participation in rural health development : a case study in Kenya." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1997. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2479/.
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Achieving active participation of community members in community-based health care programmes (CBHC) is a challenging and complex task. It is also a criterion for successful programming and is promoted as a universal truth and requirement for primary health care development. Nevertheless, most CBHC programmes admit that more needs to be done to achieve satisfactory levels of community involvement. Thus, a better understanding is required as to why success in community involvement has been in most part, elusive. The thesis uses a historical perspective to examine the emergence of participation in the period prior to and during the community development era in Africa and the post-independent period in Kenya. The emergence of participation and it's progression as an international health strategy in the 1980's and 1990's within WHO, a leading international organisation promoting community involvement in health is critically examined. At the community level, people's perception and understanding of community participation and an analysis of how they participated in the case study CBHC programme provided an operational assessment of community participation. A particular focus was community contributions as a mechanism of participation. Thus, the primary aim of this thesis was to examine in rural Kenya the socio-economic and institutional support factors which can potentially enhance or limit participation of community members in rural community-based health development programmes. The main socio-economic factors examined were education, income, group membership and domestic factors such as harmony in the household and women's time. The roles of local structures and support personnel such as community health volunteers (CHVs), health committee members (HCMs) and local leaders in promoting participation were also analysed. The method used was interviews with a sample of these respondents. Based on the case study research results, the thesis draws conclusions on the factors that appear to be most significant in relation to community participation. The importance of education, group membership and regular monthly visits by CHVs were identified as particularly significant factors. A more informed understanding of these relationships will enable health planners in designing integrated programme strategies which can help promote broader community participation in health development programmes. An awareness of these factors and their inter-relationships by operational-level health staff will enable them to enhance community participation when developing and implementing community-based health care programmes.
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Theuri, Emma Wanjiru. "The relevance of education to the socioeconomic development needs of rural people : the case of Kenya /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1997. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9841190.
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Matanga, Frank Khachina. "Non-governmental organizations, the state and the politics of rural development in Kenya with particular reference to Western Province." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003013.
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In recent decades, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have increasingly taken on development and political roles in Africa. This has partly been attributed to the New Policy Agenda (NPA) mounted by the international donors. The NPA is predicated on neo-liberal thinking advocating for an enlarged development role for the private sector and a minimalist state. This relatively new shift in development thought has been motivated by the declining capacity of the African state to deliver development and guarantee a liberal political system. This study, therefore, set out to empirically examine whether NGOs are capable of effectively playing their new-found development and political roles. The study was based on Kenya with the Western Province constituting the core research area. The fact that the Kenyan state has been gradually disengaging from the development process has created a vacuum of which the NGOs have attempted to fill. Equally important has been the observation that, for the greater part of the post-colonial period, the state has been largely authoritarian and therefore prompting a segment of civil society to take on political roles in an effort to force it to liberalize and democratize. Urban NGOs in particular, have been the most confrontational to the state with some remarkable success. Unlike their urban counterparts, rural-based NGOs have tended to be more developmental and play a politics of collaboration with the state. Many of the latter NGOs, although playing a significant role in rural development, have been co-opted into patron-client networks. Factors that influence NGOs= posture towards the state include the nature of their leadership, the extent of their nternational connections, and the level of resources at their disposal. The study=s principal conclusion, is that, in as much as NGOs and overall civil society have provided a basis for development and opposition to the state, there is an urgent and growing need for them to shift from a position of dependency, whether domestic or international, to relative autonomy. Only then, will their contributions be sustainable in society.
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Mwiandi, Mary Ciambaka. "The Jeanes School in Kenya the role of the Jeanes teachers and their wives in "social transformation" of rural colonial Kenya, 1925-1961 /." Diss., Connect to online resource - MSU authorized users, 2006.
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Musila, Beatrice Wekesa. "Sustainable agriculture in rural development using local technologies, the case of Kenya." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ56716.pdf.
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Kaudia, Alice Akinyi. "The diffusion of social forestry in semi-arid areas : a case-study of Kitui District, Kenya." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.296361.
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Ndegwa, E. N. "Service centres and rural development in Kenya : a case study of Nyeri district." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.332535.
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Watanabe, Junichi O. "Developing a research methodology and method to evaluate rural development policy in Kenya." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.309705.
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Bowler, Stephen James. "The basic needs approach to development : a case study of rural water supply in Kenya." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26785.
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The meeting of the basic needs of people, particularly the poor, has come to be an important focus of rural development efforts in the Third World. This is largely due to the realization that the benefits of previous development efforts have not reached the poor. The basic needs concept of development places the focus on the ends of development. This means a direct attack on poverty through meeting the basic human requirements of the neediest segment of society, the poor.
There are two approaches that can be taken when one adopts the basic needs concept as the theoretical framework for a project. The first is a top down effort concerned with satisfying basic needs as quickly as possible and is referred to in this thesis as a technocratic approach to meeting basic needs. The second is concerned with developing a sustainable project based on the community so that it can continue to meet its basic needs and is referred to in this thesis as a community development approach to meeting basic needs.
The purpose of this thesis is to identify those elements in the planning process that contribute to the success of efforts to meet basic needs in developing countries. Success is defined as the meeting of immediate and long term water needs leading to improvements in health, economic and social conditions of communities.
To accomplish this objective a literature review of efforts to meet the basic need of water is undertaken. The focus is on identifying elements found in the literature, dominated by advocates of the community development approach to meeting basic needs, which contributed to the success of rural water supply projects in providing an adequate supply of water to the poor. These success elements can be grouped in the following five categories: appropriate knowledge; appropriate technology; appropriate institutions; appropriate support; and community participation. The assumption articulated by most writers is that each of these five elements is an essential part of a community development approach to meeting basic needs. There is very little in the literature on the technocratic approach, yet it is used in practice.
A case study of a rural water supply project in Kenya, East Africa, which used a technocratic approach, was undertaken with the expectation that it would show a lack of success because of its failure to include the five elements of the community development approach. In fact, the project was found to be a success. However, the study did reveal that the planners involved in the project now believe that, for the long run sustainability of the project, it is vital to make the five elements of the community development approach an essential part of the project.
The main conclusion of the thesis is that a project using a technocratic approach to meeting basic needs can succeed in the short run but that for this project to continue to be successful there comes a point where the elements assumed to be part of the community development approach to meeting basic needs must be included.Applied Science, Faculty of
Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
Graduate
10
Alumira, Jane D. "Influence of seasonality in food availability on household nutritional status and implications for rural extension : a comparative study of western Kenya." Thesis, University of Reading, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.295014.
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Boliko, Charles Mbuli. "An Evaluation of Rural Electrification Using a Sustainability Assessment Framework: The Case of Kenya." Kyoto University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/253447.
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付記する学位プログラム名: 京都大学大学院思修館Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(総合学術)
甲第22611号
総総博第11号
新制||総総||2(附属図書館)
京都大学大学院総合生存学館総合生存学専攻
(主査)教授 IALNAZOV Dimiter Savov, 教授 山敷 庸亮, 特定教授 高島 宏明, 教授 大垣 英明
学位規則第4条第1項該当
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Ng'endo, Mary. "Variety for security : a case study of agricultural, nutritional and dietary diversity among smallholder farmers in western Kenya." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6d5dc1cf-a9ae-4499-bbc2-e8016970c3da.
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Agricultural biodiversity, commonly referred to as agrobiodiversity, is that part of biodiversity that is geared towards agriculture and food production. Agrobiodiversity is said to contribute much to food and nutrition, but there is lack of data confirming this, particularly from Eastern Africa. To assess the extent of agrobiodiversity on smallholder farms and in local markets and to connect these to food intake and perceptions of food security among smallholder farmers in Western Kenya, the thesis asks four main research questions: (i) What is the extent of food plant diversity in smallholder farms, the bio-physical and socio-economic factors influencing it and the contribution of this diversity to the household's food needs? (ii) What is the relationship between agricultural and dietary diversity? (iii) What linkages are there between agricultural and nutritional diversity? (iv) How does access to agrobiodiversity in local markets contribute to meeting household food needs and what is the extent of smallholder farmers' integration into these markets? Through a combination of focus group discussions, farm and market surveys conducted across three time points, results indicate that: (i) higher food plant species richness is found on farms managed by wealthier and older households. However, these households are not more food secure than the rest, (ii) while there is a lack of a strong relationship between agricultural and dietary diversity, dietary diversity is instead significantly influenced by socio-economic factors including a household's wealth status, ethnicity and education level, (iii) despite a diversity of locally available on-farm and market food species meeting existing macro-and micro-nutrient needs, there is a general lack of understanding of this diversity as food shortage months coincide with a lack of maize despite high availability of a diversity of other foods not only to replace the maize but also to contribute to a diverse diet, (iv) smallholder farmers rely on multiple food sources, with markets mainly for sourcing cereals, fruits and animal source foods. There is also low integration of smallholder farmers as sellers in local markets. Together, the four case studies show interlinkages across food availability, accessibility and utilisation, which when addressed with equal weight, could unlock local agrobiodiversity's potential as a path to food and nutrition security of smallholder farming households.
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Ilskog, Elisabeth. "And Then They Lived Sustainably Ever After? : Experiences from Rural Electrification in Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya." Doctoral thesis, Stockholm : Teknik och hälsa, Technology and Health, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-4804.
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Gibbon, Hugh. "Using remote sensing techniques for rural development planning in Kenya : a study in Meru District." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1987. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29107/.
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The thesis sets out to examine the utility of remote sensing techniques in helping to define recommendation domains relatively homogeneous agricultural areas - to act as foci for agricultural development planning in lower Meru, Kenya. Recommendation domains are used in farming systems research (FSR) for agricultural research and development initiatives enabling greater participation from rural producers within the development process. Recommendation domains are defined by agricultural potential (agro-ecological zones) and farming systems (agro-economic groupings). A multilevel approach incorporating Landsat MSS data, 1:50,000 stereo panchromatic air photography, large scale aerial colour slide photography and ground surveys is used to collect data on the farming systems of the study area. Relatively homogeneous farming patterns are identified and mapped using a number of different computer software packages. These patterns are related to previously identified zones of agricultural potential (agro-ecological zones) to define recommendation domains for new agricultural development initiatives in the area. Several domains are identified for specific attention. Recommendations are made which are relevant to both national and district level agricultural planning in Kenya. It is suggested that future development programmes should focus on areas undergoing population movement and cultivation change since without careful planning these changes are likely to detrimentally affect the local farming systems and natural environment.
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Gatonye, Margaret. "Social Inclusivity and Equitable Development: Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture in Rural Communities of Kenya." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1586540674871228.
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Mwasi, Benjamin N. (Benjamin Njore) 1960 Carleton University Dissertation Geography. "Investigating the applicability of geographic information systems (GIS) technology to rural development planning in Kenya." Ottawa, 1990.
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Kiamba, C. M. "The role of the state in the control of urban development : Urban land policy for Nairobi, Kenya." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.382205.
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Gichina, Charity G. "Internationally aided development for arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya : a comparative sociological analysis and a framework for project planning /." Thesis, This resource online, 1996. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-08292008-063150/.
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Halter, Sarah Kathryn. "Self-help groups as a strategy for rural development in western Kenya an exploratory study in Butere-Mumias District /." Diss., Connect to online resource - MSU authorized users, 2008.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies, 2008.Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 7, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-96). Also issued in print.
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Saraswati, Made Sania. "Design Improvements for Top-Lit UpDraft Biochar-Producing Gasifier Stove in Rural Kenya from the Users’ Perspective." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-366338.
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Energy plays a significant role in a country’s development. Usage of an improved stove that produces biochar could help to reduce the pressure of deforestation, amend soil productivity, and provide cleaner technology for cooking. In Kwale, a county located on the south coast of Kenya, firewood is still used as the primary cooking fuel followed by charcoal. This research aims to investigate the improvements for a Top-litUpDraft (TLUD) biochar-producing gasifier stove, which the users aspired through co-designing. Transformative mixed methods were used as the research design to empower the users’ involvement in the biochar and smallholder farmers in Kenya – improved use efficiency of farm-level organic resources in relation to energy, crops and soil project. Triangulation was used to process the collected data through structured user observations, a focus group discussion, and a semi-structured interview. Between two stakeholders, TLUDgasifier stove users and the manufacturer, there was a difference of opinion for the main priority. Ease of use was the main concern for the users while the manufacturer put forward energy efficiency. Further, the users desired for an increase in the stove’s dimension as its capacity to produce biochar would increase.
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Tuwei, David Kiplagat. "Communication technology, capabilities and livelihoods: the role of mobile money in facilitating financial inclusion and development in rural Kenya." Diss., University of Iowa, 2018. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6316.
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In urban and rural Kenya, mobile money, the use of the mobile telephone for banking has become a part of everyday life. People use mobile money to accomplish a variety of functions such as transfer money, save, and pay bills, among other uses. At the national level, the government considers mobile money important for individual and national development. Safaricom’s M-Pesa, the most popular mobile money application has received praise for enabling people in the rural areas to access financial services. This research examines the role of mobile money in the everyday lives of people in rural Kenya, especially ordinary users of M-Pesa and M-Pesa agents that facilitate these services.
The findings from this research are based on a three-month period of fieldwork on M-Pesa use and facilitation in Chepkoilel, a rural community in western Kenya. Three questions guided this research: how has M-Pesa fit into people’s existing financial cultures and practices? How do people perceive M-Pesa and the role of the service in facilitating their development or financial mobility? How do M-Pesa agents perceive their role in the mobile money ecosystem? Data were collected using interviewing and observation methods.
In this research, I found that M-Pesa users and M-Pesa agents utilized M-Pesa for their individual development. Notably, the M-Pesa agency business model had provided new opportunities for entrepreneurship to rural dwellers. Equally important, the application was fundamental for facilitating local-local and global-local financial flows. The ease of making financial remittances through M-Pesa had saved people the cost of transport to the banking halls in town, and made it easy for participants to forward their chama, or self-help group contributions. However, despite the speed and convenience of transactions brought by M-Pesa, there were widespread perceptions that financial management had been made difficult by the fact that money was now so fluid on M-Pesa, a contrast to the time when people used cash. At the same time, Safaricom’s introduction of M-Shwari, the digital saving platform had provided people with an alternative avenue with which to save and borrow money. Though M-Shwari fostered the privacy of financial transactions, among other perceived advantages, the application was displacing long-held collectivist financial habits by introducing individualistic financial practices.
This study has also examined the intermediary work of M-Pesa agents in the mobile money ecosystem. As nodes linking Safaricom and its customers, M-Pesa agents were important actors in the system of exchange and value. Their domestication practices were critical to the integration of M-Pesa within the population. Furthermore, as informediaries, they provided socio-technical information that Safaricom used to improve the service. However, their work was often impeded by increasing cases of digital insecurity, and agents found themselves thrust in the role of the management of safety of M-Pesa transactions despite their limited financial knowledge. Finally, in unexpected ways, M-Pesa agents were engaged in the shaping of M-Pesa to suit the local social, cultural and economic remittance practices of the community they served. In the end, these actions benefited their development, the development of their clients, and Safaricom’s business. However, contrary to the prevailing perception, the study found that M-Pesa’s contribution towards financial inclusion was felt more in the informal economy rather than in the formal economy.
I conclude that though M-Pesa was important for people’s development, the low-income population faced digital divide challenges in their attempts to utilize M-Pesa for their development. For instance, the relative high cost of services led to non-adoption of M-Pesa by some demographics. Non-literacy and lack of digital skills were other problems users faced.
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Olofsson, Emma, and Silvia Bornengo. "The security-development nexus and its local articulation in Kenya : A field study in the rural village of Baragoi." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-77821.
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The research is a field case study deployed in Samburu County, Kenya in the villages of Baragoi. The objective is to enrich the debate about peacebuilding and in particular about the security-development nexus, its articulations and actors at local level. The theorization of the security-development nexus is part of the debate regarding the way of implementing effectively peacebuilding policies (Nilsson and Taylor, 2016). The academic debate has mainly related and investigated the nexus at its international and national sphere. Moreover, when it comes to local level, only few field studies have brought up an in depth analysis of its local articulation and local actors. Therefore, this study aims at providing new evidences in relation to three main topics; first to enrich the knowledge of how development and security are conceived at local level; then, the research intends to understand if there are actors other than the national government, able to deploy security and development programs; and finally, study how their relationship is perceived at grassroots level. By understanding firstly how development and security are conceived on the ground, observation and interviews are carried out in order to understand the perception of the security-development nexus and the actors identified as influencing security and development in Baragoi, Kenya. The findings show a definition closely related to human development and human security and especially an overlapping with security and peace. The humanized definition of security and development allows more actors to be involved and therefore several non-state actors have been identified as legitimate providers of development and security in Baragoi where state presence is minimum. Moreover, their perception of the nexus shows an interdependence where both security and development are stressing issues that influence each other, however it is also possible to identify a one-way relationship where security is perceived as vital is Baragoi and by ensuring security, development will come automatically.
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Akuma, Joseph. "Les déterminants socio-économiques et culturels de la jeunesse dans le Kenya rural; région de Masaba en pays Kisii." Thesis, Pau, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016PAUU1018/document.
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Le thème de la socialisation des jeunes est un sujet de préoccupation pour toutes les sociétés du monde entier. Ceci est dû principalement au fait que l'avenir des communautés repose, en partie, sur l'efficacité avec laquelle elles accomplissent les tâches de préparation de cette composante importante de leur population, à devenir des adultes productifs qui contribueront au bien-être de leurs communautés. Dans les pays en voie de développement, caractérisé par un changement social rapide, une adaptation à des modes de vie non conventionnelles de la part des générations futures, dont les trajectoires croisent des contextes entièrement différents, l'explication minutieuse des déterminants de la socialisation des jeunes est incontournable. Au Kenya, les changements sociétaux et les comportements, exacerbés par les vulnérabilités associées au développement, créent souvent une confluence de facteurs qui placent les jeunes devant de grands risques. Par conséquent, la nécessité de transformer les institutions sociales ordinaires de la société, en tant que cadres de socialisation, pour les rendre pertinentes dans la préparation des jeunes aux défis de l'avenir, est inévitable. Portant sur une société du Kisii rural, Masaba Sud – Ouest, l'étude a cherché à établir comment le changement de la famille et celui d'autres institutions sociales clés, telles que l'éducation, la religion et les médias, ont un impact sur la socialisation de la communauté des jeunes. Le modèle écologique pour le développement humain (Urie Bronfenbrenner, 1994) et l’examen des parcours de vie ont été adoptés comme modèle conceptuel et méthodologique de l'étude. Les résultats de l'étude offrent une vue particulièrement nuancée des défis de socialisation pour une période de changement sans précédent dans un cadre rural du Kenya. Il est démontré que les socio-valeurs culturelles et les normes communautaires qui influencent le processus de socialisation ne sont pas constantes, mais qu’elles changent toujours et d’une façon parfois contradictoire et qu’elles sont perçues différemment par les jeunes et les membres plus âgés de la société, affectant ainsi négativement la capacité des parents et des autres anciens de réguler les jeunes. En outre, il est démontré que l'adoption de nouvelles structures sociales, conduisant à l'interruption de la transmission de comportements spécifiques, ne donne pas lieu à l'échec de la socialisation, mais offre de plus grandes voies pour favoriser un comportement positif. Au niveau national, la politique en charge du développement de la jeunesse est pleine de lacunes, en termes de politiques suivies, d’autant que les interventions n'ont pas été fondées sur une évaluation éclairée des problèmes. De même, les programmes pour les jeunes ont constamment été guidés par la philosophie du déficit et par des approches orientées. Ainsi, l'idéologie qui sous-tend le développement des jeunes, a souvent mis l'accent sur les projets centrés sur la transmission des compétences professionnelles et l'accès aux services financiers des jeunes, alors que fait défaut une politique familiale explicite. L'étude apporte une contribution à une recherche qui vise à comprendre les entraves structurelles, les nouvelles voies et transitions des jeunes à l'âge adulte et les chemins de développement personnel basé sur de nouvelles façons et attitudes, marquées par l'interaction humaineThe subject of youth socialization is a concern for all societies worldwide. The future of communities rests, in part on how effectively they accomplish the tasks of preparing this important component of their population to become productive adults. In developing countries, characterized by rapid social change, the adaptation and unconventional life patterns of future generations, whose growth trajectories will occur in an entirely different context, calls for careful explication of the determinants of the socialization young people. In Kenya, the societal shifts and behavioral patterns, exacerbated by the unique developmental vulnerabilities often create a confluence of factors that put youth at great risk. Hence, the need to transform the ordinary institutions of society, as socializing contexts to make them relevant in preparing young people for the challenges of the future role taking is inevitable. Set in a society in rural Kisii, Masaba South – Western Kenya, the study sought to establish how the changes in the family and that of other key social institutions such as education, religion and the media impact the socialization of the youth in the community. The ecological model for human development by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1994) and the life course framework have been adopted as the conceptual model for the study. The results of the study offer an unusually nuanced view of socialization challenges in a time of unprecedented change in Kenya’s rural setting. It is shown that socio- cultural values and community norms that influence the socialization process are not constant, but always changing and sometimes contradictory and are perceived differently by young people and older members of society, thereby adversely affecting the capacity of parents and other elders to regulate the youth. In addition, it is shown that the adoption of new social structures though leading to the disruption of the transmission of specific behaviors, do not result to failure in effective socialization, but offers greater pathways for imparting positive behavior. At national level, the policy with regard to youth development is full of gaps, in terms of policy and reality, especially since the interventions are not predicated on informed assessment. Similarly, youth programs have consistently been guided by the philosophy of deficit and problem oriented approaches. Thus, the ideology that underpins the development of young people often focuses on projects focusing on imparting vocational skills and access to financial services for young people that have already “fallen off the cracks”. More critical, the country lacks an explicit family policy on whose lenses issues affecting the family and its various population segments, especially the youth could be examined. The study makes an important contribution to the understanding of the emergent area of research aimed at understanding the structural obstacles to young people’s transition to adulthood by creating new channels and orientation for seeking pathways to personal development based on new ways and attitudes of human interaction
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Shimkus, Jacob. "Electrifying Development: Identifying Key Policy Tools For Facilitating Rural Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1153.
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Rural electrification is a critical tool for accelerating and enhancing development throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The challenge for modern policymakers is to identify and implement programs that will effectively facilitate rural electrification. This analysis develops a model for comparing the performance of nations' electrification policies using a fixed effects regression model based on World Bank data from 1990, 2000 and 2010. To identify the key policies for driving rural electrification, this analysis then compares the programs and reforms employed in six nations from Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, three reform measures are identified that are conditional on outside factors for their contribution to success, and three universal policies are identified that may be broadly applied to improve rural electrification throughout the region.
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Dondo, Awuor M. "The cooperative model as an alternative strategy for rural development : a policy analysis case study of Kenya and Tanzania 1960-2009." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2012. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/283.
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This study proposes the use of the cooperative model as an alternative strategy for rural development in Kenya and Tanzania. Failure of prior models and the misuse of foreign aid in these nations lead to this proposal. The research’s theoretical framework is grounded on the neoclassical economic theory. Core questions asked included but, were not limited to: finding out the types of policies implemented the role of the cooperatives in job creation and poverty reduction, the status of cooperative education and finances, the status of poverty in both nations and many more. Peter Warbasse, Adam Chambo and other proponents of the model reaffirmed the important role played by cooperatives and advocated for policies which uplift ordinary citizens from dependency to selfreliance. In Kenya, data came from the ministry websites, the ministry headquarters and its affiliates. In Tanzania, data came from the ministry’s websites and from a visit to Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) research center in Moshi. The research found that in 2008, Kenya had 8,507,000 cooperative members while Tanzania had 1,600,000. Primary cooperatives alone had created 300,000 jobs in Kenya and only 34,524 in Tanzania. Indirect employments were 303,455 in Kenya while Tanzania had no figures for indirect employment nor for the total jobs created in the same year. Cooperatives created 3,445 jobs within Kenya’s government offices and their affiliated institutions versus Tanzania’s 425. The big disparity between the two nation’s data is bewildering as discussed. The policy analysis supports the hypothesis that indeed, both nations had indeed implemented policies to support their cooperative organizations right from independence but, especially to rescue these organizations from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) Mandates. Most of these policies had been formulated in accordance with the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG5) which strives to reduce poverty in the less developed nation by half by the year 2015. Study limitations included but were not limited to: bureaucracy, partial and unavailability of research data. There is optimism in the future of these organizations as evidenced by the latest cooperative policies which focus on improving both nations’ rural development
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Adolfsson, Niklas. "Appropriate technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa : the transition of cultivation techniques /." Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2000. http://www.bt.slu.se/lt_old/Meddelande/Me2000-02/Meddel.pdf.
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Kiugu, Aphaxard M. "The proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa." Fort Leavenworth, KS : US Army Command and General Staff College, 2007. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA471369.
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Cheboiwo, Joshua Kiplongei. "Socio-economic issues in rural afforestation in Kenya." Master's thesis, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/128734.
Full textAbstract:
Since Kenya was declared a British Colony in 1895, land use and land tenure
have undergone rapid evolution from varied traditional African communal systems
into freehold commercialised or semi-commercialised systems. Forests and trees
in private lands have also undergone a revolutionary history within the period from
being an enemy of traditional African cultivators and pastoralists into an integral
part of land use systems of modern Kenya. Agrarian development, mostly due to
external and internal demands during and after the colonial era, was at the
expense of forests and natural vegetation. The process was essential because of
the competitive nature of trees and agricultural crops and pasture. This inherently
was with the full backing of land use and labour policies and preceded mass tree
planting by almost three decades. Farm forestry and agrarian systems in the
African sector are functions of biophysical factors, population density,
infrastructural development, economic scarcity and social values within the rural
and household socio-econom ic context.
Within a short period, smallholder farm forestry has shown impressive
developments which only differ by degree across the country, mostly on the
biophysical limitations. In ASAL areas, due to the moisture deficit for favourable
tree growth and survival, mass tree growing beyond settled homesteads is
uneconomical within the existing conditions as compared to medium and high
potential zones. Rural land use changes are driven largely by demand forces often
outside the agricultural and forestry sector. Unless forestry assumes econom ic
scarcity or high social value, trees will be replaced by higher value land use
systems or use of scarce resources for trees will not be justifiable beyond
subsistence level. Depending on local demand forces and socio-economic status,
Cost-Benefit techniques indicate that farm forestry is an efficient land use within
existing resource limitations and in most areas resource mobility between various competing land use systems is shifting in a continuum. The dynamism between
trees and other land uses in general favours the high value systems in terms of
returns to the invested resources and the prevailing general economic and political
conditions.
The promotion and approach to rural tree growing by farmers has changed over
the period. It has been farmer initiated activity to serve the households' perceived
socio-econom ic needs with little or no external support. But with recent
environmental awareness and an increasing push for tree planting as a solution
to the environmental dilemma facing many rural areas, farmers have been urged to
plant more trees irrespective of their local socio-economic importance to the land
owners. The economic and social benefits from farm forestry resources have often
been exaggerated to boost the morale of rural forestry development agents which
at the same time could raise unattainable expectations among the farmers.
The individualisation of land ownership set a precedent where communal
ownership was weakened and individual property ownership has become
entrenched in Kenyan society. Group or communal activities are more appealing in
some projects such as schools, dams, health centres and roads. These facilities
are rarely provided cost-effectively by individuals and in many cases benefits are
indivisible. Large scale seedling production may not be economically feasible on
communal or group efforts due to inherent organisational inefficiencies and is
made worse in the ASAL where biophysical conditions make returns from such
investments low despite its conceptual appeal and cost-effective in provision of
extension support services.
Approaches which modify the traditional forestry systems, to benefit farmers
within the existing household socio-econom ic context through participatory
programmes and macro-reforms, to improve economic viability of forestry activities are more likely to be adopted than the current subsidised and often objectively
contradictory strategies.
29
Mwasaa, Walter Mbele. "Towards livelihoods security : livelihoods opportunities and challenges in Embui, Kenya." Diss., 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/8604.
Full textAbstract:
Given the livelihoods challenges which face many rural communities, understanding a
community’s livelihoods dynamics and opportunities is one major step to developing workable
options to address the challenges. This study has focused on one rural community and used the
five determinants of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to describe the livelihoods situation
in Embui sub-location in Machakos County, Kenya.
Residents of Embui have had to deal with the fact that traditional production systems are not
sufficient to provide for their livelihoods needs. The community and continues to be challenged
by limited capital for diversifying income sources, low skills and limited social and economic
services.
This study recommends support to marketing of locally produced artifacts, improved access to
capital and provision of water for irrigation along with extension services as the key areas of support to improve the living standards of the residents of EmbuiDevelopment Studies
M.A. (Development Studies)
30
Okwanga, Esther Loveless. ""Caught at crossroads -- which way for NGOs?" : an analysis of NGO post-drought "rehabilitation through to development" interventions in Machakos district Kenya, 2001-2006." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6216.
Full textAbstract:
Non Governmental Organisations have been operating in Africa since the 1940’s; then, their work was heavily biased towards relief work. From the 1980s however, the role of NGOs evolved to include development; understandably, African governments were finding it increasingly difficult to provide adequate levels of basic services for their people. To this effect and initially; NGOs got involved in development as short term "gap fillers" in the provision of basic services; health and education amongst others. As Africa’s development discourse continued unabated, NGOs were recognised by donors and host governments alike, as indispensible to the provision of such services; in time however, they became the subject of criticism for allegedly failing to irreversibly ameliorate the conditions of the poor.
In delivering services, NGOs work in a complex partnership characterised by power imbalances. The partnership involves donors who own the means of production which facilitate NGOs’ work and host governments who “own” the humanitarian space which NGOs need to fulfil their humanitarian mandate. While seemingly poor and powerless, the communities served wield the power to facilitate or block the success of NGO interventions through their commitment and/or lack thereof; respectively; NGOs’ contribution is their skills and humanitarian spirit. The success of NGO interventions is a function of resources, humanitarian space and the goodwill that donors, host governments and the communities served bring to the partnership table respectively.
The study sought to establish why between 2001-2006; NGO post-drought rehabilitation through to development interventions failed to irreversibly reduce vulnerability against drought in communities in Machakos District and the extent to which power imbalances which characterise “partnerships for development” contributed to the failure by NGOs to fulfil their mandate.
The study revealed that NGOs are unwaveringly committed to their humanitarian mandate however; the power imbalances that characterise “partnerships for development” and in particular, that between NGOs’ and donors militated against the fulfilment of their mandate in Machakos District. When NGOs fail to deliver on their mandate; they lose credibility amongst the other partners and this reinforces the power imbalances; it’s a vicious cycle. “Caught at Crossroads...” NGOs are indeed.Development Studies
D.Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)
31
Okwanga, Esther Loveness. ""Caught at crossroads -- which way for NGOs?" : an analysis of NGO post-drought "rehabilitation through to development" interventions in Machakos district Kenya, 2001-2006." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6216.
Full textAbstract:
Non Governmental Organisations have been operating in Africa since the 1940’s; then, their work was heavily biased towards relief work. From the 1980s however, the role of NGOs evolved to include development; understandably, African governments were finding it increasingly difficult to provide adequate levels of basic services for their people. To this effect and initially; NGOs got involved in development as short term "gap fillers" in the provision of basic services; health and education amongst others. As Africa’s development discourse continued unabated, NGOs were recognised by donors and host governments alike, as indispensible to the provision of such services; in time however, they became the subject of criticism for allegedly failing to irreversibly ameliorate the conditions of the poor.
In delivering services, NGOs work in a complex partnership characterised by power imbalances. The partnership involves donors who own the means of production which facilitate NGOs’ work and host governments who “own” the humanitarian space which NGOs need to fulfil their humanitarian mandate. While seemingly poor and powerless, the communities served wield the power to facilitate or block the success of NGO interventions through their commitment and/or lack thereof; respectively; NGOs’ contribution is their skills and humanitarian spirit. The success of NGO interventions is a function of resources, humanitarian space and the goodwill that donors, host governments and the communities served bring to the partnership table respectively.
The study sought to establish why between 2001-2006; NGO post-drought rehabilitation through to development interventions failed to irreversibly reduce vulnerability against drought in communities in Machakos District and the extent to which power imbalances which characterise “partnerships for development” contributed to the failure by NGOs to fulfil their mandate.
The study revealed that NGOs are unwaveringly committed to their humanitarian mandate however; the power imbalances that characterise “partnerships for development” and in particular, that between NGOs’ and donors militated against the fulfilment of their mandate in Machakos District. When NGOs fail to deliver on their mandate; they lose credibility amongst the other partners and this reinforces the power imbalances; it’s a vicious cycle. “Caught at Crossroads...” NGOs are indeed.Development Studies
D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)
32
Höffler, Heike. "Poverty Impacts of Agricultural Value Chain Development – Evidence based on Poverty Exits in Rural Kenya." 2019. https://ul.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A38199.
Full textAbstract:
Mehr als zwei Drittel der Menschen unterhalb der Armutsgrenze in Sub-Sahara Afrika leben im ländlichen Raum; vier Fünftel von ihnen erwirtschaften ihren Lebensunterhalt überwiegend durch landwirtschaftliche Aktivitäten. Somit spielt die Landwirtschaft eine herausragende Rolle in der ländlichen Wirtschaftsentwicklung und Armutsbekämpfung. Dem Sektor kam in der letzten Dekade wieder gestiegene Aufmerksamkeit durch Ent-wicklungsforschung und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit zu. Jedoch ist der Zusammen-hang zwischen landwirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten und ihrem Beitrag zur Überwindung der Armut auf der Haushaltsebene („poverty exit”) kaum empirisch analysiert.
In Kenia trägt der Agrarsektor 26 % zum BIP bei, vor- und nachgelagerten Bereiche zusätzliche 27 %. Mehr als 70 % der ländlichen Bevölkerung arbeiten in der Landwirt-schaft; landesweit sind das mehr als 40 % der Gesamtbevölkerung. Seit der Jahrtau-sendwende ist der Sektor im Durchschnitt um 3 % gewachsen, allerdings mit hoher Varianz. Seitdem haben sich viele kleinbäuerliche Haushalte in landwirtschaftliche Wert-schöpfungsketten wie Exportgemüse oder Milch integriert. Gleichzeitig sank die ländli-che Armutsrate von 49,7 % auf 40,1 %. Was also war der Beitrag der Wertschöpfungs-kettenentwicklung auf die ländliche Armutsreduktion?
Diese Arbeit untersucht am Beispiel Kenias, warum manche ländlichen Haushalte die Armut überwunden haben und welche landwirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten dazu geführt haben. Die Basis dafür bilden drei unterschiedliche Stränge in der Literatur: die Pro-Poor Growth-Debatte, die Wertschöpfungskettenliteratur, und die Armutsforschung entlang des sogenannten „Q-Squared Paradigms“. Elemente dieser drei Stränge bilden das analy-tische Gerüst für die empirische Analyse im ländlichen Kenia und kombinieren quanti-tative und qualitative Methoden. Zuerst wurde das ländliche Haushaltpanel „TAMPA“ mit 1275 ländlichen Haushalten über einen Zeitraum von 10 Jahren (1997-2007) nach Haushalten ausgewertet, die die Armut überwunden haben. Eine Stichprobe von 51 dieser Haushalte wurde im Jahr 2010 nachbefragt, um die spezifischen Gründe für den wirtschaftlichen Aufstieg zu analysieren.
Die Ergebnisse dieser Befragung lassen sich auf zwei Ebenen interpretieren und leisten daher zwei unterschiedliche Beiträge zur ländlichen Armutsforschung: erstens methodi-sche Hinweise zur Datenerfassung und -interpretation ländlicher Haushaltspanele in Afrika; zweitens Erkenntnisse zu effektiven Strategien, wie die Integration in landwirt-schaftliche Wertschöpfungsketten zur Überwindung ländlicher Armut führen kann. Das zentrale methodische Ergebnis liegt darin, dass obwohl die quantitativen Daten von vier Haushaltsbefragungen im Rahmen des Panels eindeutig eine Überwindung der Armut bei allen 51 Haushalten zeigen, nur 25 dieser Haushalt tatsächlich der Armut entkommen sind. Die anderen 26 Haushalte haben sich unterschiedlich entwickelt oder sind Messfehlern unterlegen. Die Lebensgeschichten („life histories“) der 25 Haushalte, die die Armut überwunden hatten, zeigen jedoch eindeutig, dass die Integration in landwirtschaftliche Wertschöpfungsketten tatsächlich einen sehr guten Entwicklungs-pfad aus der Armut bieten kann, wenn die landwirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten produktiv und marktorientiert sind und Investitionen und Innovationsadoption erfahren. Die Mischung aus Spezialisierung auf eine kommerzielle Wertschöpfungskette, die Elemente kollektiver Vermarktungsstrukturen wie Kooperativen aufweist, einerseits und risikomi-nimierender Diversifizierung inklusive ernährungsrelevantem Eigenkonsum anderer-seits, scheint hierbei der erfolgreichste Weg aus der ländlichen Armut zu sein.
Beide Ergebnisbereiche führen zu Schlussfolgerungen, wie zukünftig landwirtschaftliche Wertschöpfungskettenförderung den Fokus auf Armutsreduzierung stärken kann und wie die Armutsforschung die Umsetzung solcher Projekte und deren Armutseffekte besser messen könnte.:1 INTRODUCTION
2 POVERTY AND GROWTH DEBATES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR AID TO AGRICULTURE
3 POVERTY DYNAMICS AND POVERTY EXITS: CONCEPTS, METHODOLOGIES AND CASES STUDIES
4 EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE: POVERTY EXITS IN RURAL KENYA
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONSIn Sub-Saharan Africa, more than two thirds of the poor live in rural areas and four out of every five households are making a living predominantly based on agricultural and livestock activities. Agriculture plays a major role in stimulating rural economic development and in driving rural households out of poverty. Hence, the sector experienced a revival in development cooperation and devel-opment research during the past decade. However, it is rarely analysed which agricultural strategies rural households undertake to successfully exit poverty. In Kenya, agriculture is key to the economy, contributing 26 % of the GDP di-rectly and another 27 % indirectly. The sector provides employment for more than 40 % of the total population and more than 70 % of the rural population. Since the Millennium, the sector experienced an average growth rate of 3 % per year, albeit high variances. Since then, many small-scale farmers in Kenya have integrated their economic activities into agricultural value chains, such as food crops, export horticulture or dairy. At the same time, rural poverty incidence re-duced from 49.9 % to 40.1 %, but is still significantly higher than urban poverty. So what was the impact of value chain development on rural poverty reduction? This research analyses why some rural households exited poverty and to what extent these poverty exits are explained by their agricultural activities. Based on a literature review of the pro-poor growth debate, of agricultural value chain de-velopment and of poverty research along the ‘q-squared-paradigm', the results from three different schools are combined for the design of an empirical field survey in rural Kenya applying quantitative and qualitative methods. First, the ten-year TAMPA panel data set for 1275 rural households was analysed for the identification of poverty exiting households. These poverty exiters were then sampled again for qualitative follow-up interviews in order to specifically analyse their explanation for their upward mobility. 51 households were visited and in-terviewed for their agricultural life history in 2010. The results are two-fold: first, even though the four wave panel data for all 51 households showed a clear upward trend, only 25 households turned out to have actually exited poverty between 1997 and 2007. The other 26 households had either never been poor or were still poor, or had progressed in their lifecycle and remaining resources were divided by fewer dependants. Thus, a number of con-clusions are drawn for the interpretation and further use of such panel data. Sec-ond, the interviews with ‘real’ poverty exiters confirm that the integration into agricultural value chains can offer a stable pathway out of poverty, if the agricul-ture and livestock portfolio of the households is productive, receives invest-ments and innovation, is commercially oriented and linked to markets. Against the common notion that specialisation in few activities usually marks this neces-sary productivity, here, a combined specialised and diversified pathway is ob-served to be most successful. Agricultural value chain development with a focus on horizontal cooperation and collective marketing of cash crops or dairy in combination with a diversified food crop portfolio seems to have been the most promising pathway out of rural poverty. Both result areas provide recommendations for the implementation of future ag-ricultural value chain projects as well as for future rural poverty research.:1 INTRODUCTION 2 POVERTY AND GROWTH DEBATES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR AID TO AGRICULTURE 3 POVERTY DYNAMICS AND POVERTY EXITS: CONCEPTS, METHODOLOGIES AND CASES STUDIES 4 EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE: POVERTY EXITS IN RURAL KENYA 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
33
Myers, Garth Andrew. "Pastoralism and capitalism in Kenya a spatial perspective on the articulation of modes of production /." 1986. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/15064873.html.
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Parlasca, Martin Christoph. "Essays on Trust, Mobile Phones, and Nutrition among Pastoralists in Northern Kenya." Doctoral thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/21.11130/00-1735-0000-0005-147D-9.
Full text
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Runguma, Sebastian Njagi. "The political economy of poverty reduction in Kenya : a comparative analysis of two rural countries." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15407.
Full textAbstract:
Employing empirical findings from Tharaka Nithi and Siaya counties, this thesis analyses the dynamics of citizen participation in development policy and planning process in Kenya and its effects on poverty reduction efforts in the rural parts of the country. The study is based on the premise that public participation enhances the quality and relevance of development processes and their outcomes and is, therefore, an important ingredient for achieving sustainable poverty reduction outcomes. It utilizes the political economy model and draws from the concepts of “power” and “interests” in understanding the poverty reduction „enterprise‟ in the two rural communities in Kenya. The study finds that the elites, bureaucrats, and institutions have dominated Kenya‟s post-colonial development policy and planning space to the exclusion and disadvantage of ordinary citizens. The capture of public decision-making spaces, processes and development outcomes by elites is widespread and has affected the extent and quality of citizen participation in decision-making and poverty reduction in rural Kenya. Although ordinary citizens generally view themselves as the front line duty bearers in the fight against poverty, they hardly fulfilled their perceived role in poverty reduction. Faced with a web of dominating forces and constraints, ordinary citizens have become passive and peripheral actors in the poverty reduction „enterprise‟ and local level development generally. As currently profiled, approached and directed, poverty reduction is an elitist project with its goals couched in populist terms, essentially in the service of powerful and influential people and institutions within the Kenyan society. This explains why, despite poverty reduction being a policy objective throughout the post-independence period, alarmingly high levels of poverty have persisted in Kenya, especially in the rural areas. The study concludes that the success of rural poverty reduction in Kenya is chiefly dependent on sufficient citizen participation in decision-making, quality of development planning, good leadership and the capacity and will of institutions at the grassroots to pursue sustainable development endeavors.
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Kituyi-Kwake, Alice Wafula. "The role of information and communication technologies in harnessing information for women in rural development : case studies of South Africa and Kenya." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10530/255.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements or the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Library and Information Science) at the University of Zululand, 2007.The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify ICTs that provide access to information/ enhance quality of life, and improve the economic standards of rural women by conceptualizing a model for the development, management, exploitation and use of ICTs in an African rural environment. In order to obtain data from the respondents, two research methods were utilized, namely the case study and survey research. In the former, data was collected from key informants in organizations that work with ICTs and rural women. Using frame lists from both South Africa and Kenya, a total of four organizations were purposefully selected, i.e. Womensnet and the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) in South Africa, and AfriAfya and the Arid Lands Information Network (ALJN-EA) in Kenya. The survey research method was used to interview women aged between 16 and 60 years. 400 respondents formed the sampling size, randomly selected from census household data. Survey data in Kenya was obtained from the sub¬divisions of the Kaplamai Division in Trans-Nzoia district, namely: Kimoson, Sinyerere, Sitatunga and Makutano. The sample frame included: small-scale traders (68; 34%); housewives (29; 14.5%); educators/teachers (27; 13.5); farmers (26; 13.0); students (11; 5.5%); domestic workers (10; 5.0%); preachers (10; 5.0%); farm workers (6; 3.0%); large-scale entrepreneurs (5; 2.5%); nurses (4; 2.0%); clerical workers (2; 1.0%); and community development workers (2; 1.0%). In South Africa, a similar sample frame included: small-scale traders (58; 29.0%); housewives/homemakers (48; 24.0%); farm employees (25; 12.5%); domestic workers (18; 9.0%); educators/teachers (16; 8.0%); students (15; 7.5%); entrepreneurs managing large-scale enterprises (3; 1.5%); clerical workers (9; 4.5%); community development workers (6; 3.0%); and two preachers (2; 1.0%). Sampling data was obtained from census household data belonging to the magisterial districts of Umlalazi, i.e. Eshowe, Amatikulu, Gigindlovu and Mtunzini. By using the snowball sampling technique, female respondents directly and indirectly connected to one another were identified and consequently interviewed. A few major recommendations stemming from the study include the need for: women to be involved in deciding which ICTs would directly and immediately benefit their lives; sensitization and training in the use of ICTS before project implementation; resource centers with skilled human resources and technological capacities to train communities about ICTs; more enhanced collaboration with rural women by being flexible and aware of their needs and requirements; collaborative efforts with other stakeholders at community level; the establishment of intermediary working committees at community level for enhanced communication processes; and a feasibility study that assesses the physical infrastructure and needs assessment survey before project implementation. The study concluded that there is a strong co-relation between the levels of education of a community, types of ICTs used, information seeking behavior, and the socio-economic landscape/environment. It was also established that the enactment of a National Policy on ICT development does not guarantee the efficient and effective use of ICTs, especially by marginalized rural communities. Special efforts must be made to involve rural communities. These efforts would require policies that: encourage competition between various stakeholders in the telecommunications industry, govern the costs of ICTs, and govern connectivity in areas that are not commercially viable. As women form the majority of most rural households, special efforts need to be made in order to involve women in development initiatives such as skills enhancement initiatives, participatory mechanisms and follow-up programs.
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Wirastuti, N. M. A. E. Dewi, R. Luckin, Ray E. Sheriff, K. Walker, J. Underwood, and L. Dunckley. "Development of a Knowledge Management System Integrated with Local Communication Channels and Knowledge Management Initiatives for Kenyan Rural Farming Communities." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4489.
Full textAbstract:
yesThis paper presents an innovative application of wireless, mobile and ubiquitous technologies to support informal and collaborative learning in Kenyan rural farming communities. Such an approach is achieved by the development of a knowledge management system (KMS) integrated with existing local community communication channels, together with experimental knowledge management (KM) initiatives employing the VeSeL (Village e-Science for Life) distributed resource kits (DRKs). The initiatives support illiterate and semi-literate farming community groups, in learning new agriculture practices, and also enable the use of advanced digital technology to improve their agricultural practices and literacy levels. Results of a recent field trip to Kenya are presented and an application sketch is developed. The process of applying wireless and Internet technologies for the education of local farming communities, using irrigation and water management as the application, concludes the paper.
EPSRC
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(8812253), Newton Morara Nyairo. "Attitudes and Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers Towards Agricultural Technologies in Western Kenya." Thesis, 2020.
Find full textAbstract:
This
exploratory study assessed attitudes and perceptions of smallholder farmers
towards agricultural technologies in Kakamega County, Kenya. Through a mixed-methods
sequential design, the study evaluated the key variables predicting farmer
adoption of agricultural innovations. While social sciences provide a clear human-driven pattern explaining the
process of choices and behaviors regarding technology use, there is still little
clarity on the influences of adoption decisions among smallholder farmers in
rural Kenya. Using the diffusion of
innovations theory, the study explored the attitudes and perceptions of
smallholder farmers toward technology adoption in seven sub-counties of
Kakamega County (Lurambi, Ikolomani, Shinyalu, Mumias East (Shianda), Malava
Butere, and Khwisero). The study design utilized a quantitative survey of 245
smallholder heads of households, followed by focus group discussions to further
probe attitudes, values and practices that could influence technology adoption.
The survey questionnaire tested two hypotheses: (H1) socio-demographic
characteristics are related to agricultural technology adoption; and, (H2)
farmer access to extension services was related to agricultural technology
adoption. A binary logistic regression model was used to quantitatively
estimate socio-demographic variables presumed to influence the adoption of agricultural innovations.
Subsequently, four informal focus group discussions of 28 discussants was
conducted across representative sub-counties (Lurambi, Shianda, Malava and
Ikolomani), to elicit an in-depth understanding of farmers’ perspectives on
technology adoption. The focus group
participants included farmers recruited from among survey participants. The qualitative research instrument sought to
answer three questions, (RQ1) what are farmer attitudes and perceptions towards
agricultural technologies; (RQ2) what socio-cultural values influence farmers’
choice of agricultural technologies; and, (RQ3) what sources do farmers use for
obtaining information on agricultural technology? Quantitative results included
a principal component analysis (PCA) in which 14 attitudes questions were
reduced to five conceptual clusters. These clusters included: challenges in
accessing modern agricultural technologies (explained 19.09% of the total
variance); effectiveness of agricultural technologies (11.88%); enjoyment of
agricultural technologies (10.02%); social influence in use of technology
(9.47%); and experience with agricultural technologies (8.13%). A logistic
regression model indicated that independently age (.07), education (.10), and
off-farm income (.08) were significantly associated with adoption of technology
at the 90% confidence level when controlling for all other variables in the
model. However, agricultural
extension (.42) was not a significant predictor of agricultural technology
adoption in this model. Qualitative results provided rich insights which
enhanced findings from the survey data. Key
insights in the thematic analysis included: farmers’ ambivalence about
agricultural technologies; lack of trust in agricultural agents; low levels of
agricultural technology knowledge; extension services as the main source of information
dissemination to farmers; predominance of gender in determining agricultural
technology adoption; and gender inequity in agricultural decision-making. In
conclusion, the study results suggested that a mixed-methods approach was valuable in probing the
nuances of farmers’ perceptions of agricultural extension and technology
adoption among smallholder farmers. The results supported the following
recommendations: the agricultural extension efforts could be more effectively
structured in order to support the dissemination of agricultural information;
the issue of gender should be adequately addressed by engaging male and female
in collaborative agricultural efforts to help break the barrier of gender
inequity; and future research would benefit from disaggregating public and
private extension services as a more robust method for determining their
individual effects in the promotion of agricultural innovations among
smallholder farmers.