Role of Huduma centres’ intergrated services project on enhancement of public service delivery in Nakuru county, Kenya

Abstract

Service delivery in the public sector has not been satisfactory unlike in the private sector where customer satisfaction is the key driver in all the activities of an entity; it is exactly the opposite in the public sector. Public service delivery points in Kenya have witnessed long queues which often leave customers unsatisfied and disappointed. This culminated to a need to carry out a research which intends to assess the role of Huduma Centres‟ integrated services project on enhancement of public service delivery in Nakuru County. The objectives of this study were as follows: to establish the role of Huduma Centres‟ integrated services project on enhancement of transparency in public service delivery in Nakuru County. To assess the role of Huduma Centres‟ integrated services project on enhancement of service reliability in public service delivery in Nakuru County. To determine the role of Huduma Centres‟ integrated services project on enhancement of customer service in public service delivery in Nakuru County. To evaluate the role of Huduma Centres‟ integrated services project on enhancement of service sustainability in public service delivery in Nakuru County Descriptive survey design was adopted because it always describes the situation in totality without bias. Data collection was carried out by use of interviews and questionnaires. Interview schedules were used to gather data from the clients who turned up for services at the Huduma centre in Nakuru. Questionnaire had a set of questions which were fully structured, and they were administered to employees serving in the center. Data collection was carried out by the researcher herself; interviews were conducted and responses recorded while questionnaires were distributed to staff to fill and collected back after two days. The researcher used random sampling technique which identified a sample selection of 286 respondents who were picked and comprised of clients and employees of Huduma Centre in Nakuru. The collected data were cleaned, coded and entered to a computer Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program for analysis. Data was then analyzed descriptively and findings presented in tables. The findings showed that transparency and accountability on service provision translate to better and effective service delivery. The findings further established that the services provided at Huduma centres were reliable and that customers were satisfied of how they are served. The study recommended that there is need to enhance ICTs systems to improve further on user-friendliness, usability, and convenience. The government needs to formulate mechanisms that ensure continuous service quality improvement at Huduma centres. Policy documents should be prepared which stipulates processes in Huduma Centres to curb political interference. Suggestions for further studies were the current study focused on integrated services on enhancement of public service delivery but a similar study can be done using other State Co-operations which are using Huduma Centres. The scope of this research was limited to the public service, and was strictly limited to Huduma Centre in Nakuru, and the findings cannot be equally generalized to apply to the private sector entities and other government organizations too and in connection to this limitation, it is possible to carry out further research on how the issues look like in other sectors. The study majorly dealt with integrated services on enhancement of public service delivery, however, a similar study can be done on the systems and technology used.