Factors Influencing Participation Of The Youth In Community Based Projects In Narok North Constituency, Narok County.

ABSTRACT

The Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions highly affected by youth unemployment. It

is estimated to be more than 21 %. It is estimated that 64% of unemployed persons in

Kenya are youth. Interestingly, only 1.5% of the unemployed youth have formal

education beyond secondary school level and the remaining over 92% have no vocational

or professional skills training and the majority is found in the rural Kenya. Youths in

Kenya who number about 12 million account for about 32% of the population.

Participatory development is the most important approach towards enabling communities

to help themselves and sustain efforts towards development work. Despite efforts by the

government and other relevant such as NGOs to empower the youth through participation

in community based projects, the youth have not fully participated. This study established

the factors that affect the participation of youth in community based projects in Narok

North constituency. The study was guided by four objectives, the first objective

established how education and training of the youth influences their participation,

established how capital and credit facilities among the youth influence their participation,

determined how technology influences youth participation and the last objective

examined the extent to which organizational policy of the CBOs influences youth

participation in community based organizations, in Narok North constituency. The study

was justified because there has not been any previous documentation on youth

participation in Narok North constituency. The study conceptualized youth participation

in community based organizations and it was guided by two theories ; the systems

theory of management and the stakeholders theory. The relationship between the

independent and the dependent variable was conceptualized. The study adopted a

descriptive research design and focused on the 300 youth who are active on youth groups

registered by the ministry of social services as its target population. Purposive sampling

technique was used to select the officials of the groups while simple random sampling

was used to select 30% that is 90 of the youth to participate in the study. The study used

both primary and secondary data. Secondary data was obtained from existing literature

while primary data was collected using questionnaires. A pilot study, Validity and

reliability of the research instrument were done. Data was analyzed descriptively by the

aid of Excel soft ware where the means, percentages and frequencies were computed and

then presented using tables and charts, and interpretations made based on the study

objectives. The study drew conclusions and recommendations based on the findings.