The Impact Of Small Arms On Children’s Wellbeing: A Case Of Mandera County, Kenya (1967-2014)

ABSTRACT

Small arms have devastating effects on children either directly or indirectly, which not only occur during conflict or war but may have long lasting impacts even after the war. Research on the impacts of small arms has shown that children affected by small arms require much attention and support to put their lives back to normalcy and integrate them into the society. In Kenya, the proliferation of small arms in the Northern parts of the Country is an issue of serious concern for the government. Frequent reports of violent conflicts using small arms have been reported over since the year 1967-todate. In Mandera County, low access to education, food insecurity and poor health among children have also been reported. However, no study had been done to establish the impacts of these small arms on children. This study sought to determine the impact of small arms on children’s well being in Mandera County. The study will sought to examine the causes of the proliferation of small arms; determine the impacts of small arms on education of the children; access to health; and access to nutrition and water and examine the ways that can be used to control the proliferation of small arms in Mandera County. The study was guided by the deterrence theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design obtaining data from teachers and humanitarian aid workers in the region. Data was collected using interviews schedules and document analysis guides. Interview guides was used to collect historical data from old village natives and humanitarian assistance workers while records of impacts were obtained from humanitarian organizations records of post armed conflict impacts and records on provision of education, health services, food and water. Data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics such as cross tabulations, frequencies and percentages and presented in form of tables and charts for interpretation with aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. The information is expected to shed light on the impacts of small arms on children which may be used by the government and Non – Governmental Organizations in devising intervention measures that could help the affected children.