| dc.description.abstract | The plight of the youth worldwide is of great concern. Many governments and other stakeholders
have been coming up with initiatives to fulfill the needs of this prime segment of the society.
This study sought to investigate the influence of the Catholic Church funded projects on Socioeconomic
development of the youth in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. The study objectives were;
to determine how provision of educational services by the Catholic Church influence socioeconomic
development of the youth in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. To establish how provision
of health services by the Catholic Church influence socio-economic development of the youth in
Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. To assess how provision of water services by the Catholic Church
influence socio-economic development of the youth in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya and To
establish how provision of justice and peace services by the Catholic Church influence socioeconomic
development of the youth in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. The study adopted both
qualitative and quantitative methods to establish the influence of the Catholic Church funded
projects on socio-economic development of the youth in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. The
research instruments used were questionnaires for the youth respondents, interview guides for
the leaders and observation checklist. The response rate was 100% which had 323 youths and 19
church leaders who consisted of priests, managers from different sections, catechists, teachers,
nurses and chairpersons of different groups. Data analysis was done using SPSS V21.0 for the
questionnaires as well as some items on the interview guide and thematic analysis for the rest of
the items in the interview guides. The findings shows that most youths 50.5% benefited from
school fees support through education services by church funded and sponsored high schools,
Vocational Training Institutes and Polytechnics which lead to 49.5% of them to work in private
sector which had employed most of the youth. The education services support through free
education helped 54.5% of the youth to access education. In their studies, during extracurriculum
activities, 66.3% of the youth interacted between 1 and 2 times in a term or semester.
Through the provision of health services by the church through her facilities, 53.9% of the youth
were able to access medical services in her local dispensaries. It was further noted that those who
received training in the church funded health facilities have secured employment in the private
and public sectors with private sector accounting to 49.5%. Water programme in church through
the projects it funded enabled 83.6% of the youth access water services in their respective areas.
The justice and peace services by the church had made most of the youth, 93.2% to be aware of
conflicts and injustices that are in the society and how to act on them. This study will enable the
stakeholders in charge of these youth affairs come up with policies that will be to the best
interest of the youth | en_US |
