| dc.description.abstract | Youth unemployment is one of the biggest development challenges in the Third World today. In
Kenya over 15 million people live below the poverty line, with over three million classified as
unemployed. Youth account for about 55% of the unemployed in Kenya, implying that
unemployment is a predominantly youth issue. The rapidly increasing youth unemployment
levels have been aggravated by changes in economic policies. Subsequently, over the past
decade, there has been a steady shift from formal to informal sector employment, popularly
known as ‘Jua Kali’. Secondary negative effects such as the systematic erosion of the social
value of education, crime, prostitution and drug abuse have increased as a direct consequence.
The study aimed at establishing the determinants of youth enterprise development funded
projects performance in Isiolo County. The study was guided by the following objectives: to
establish influence of monitoring and evaluation on youth enterprise development funded
projects performance in Isiolo County; to assess influences of entrepreneurial skills on youth
enterprise development funded projects performance in Isiolo County; to evaluate the influence
of training and development on youth enterprise development funded projects performance in
Isiolo County; to determine the influence of access to market on youth enterprise development
funded projects performance in Isiolo County and to assess the influence of youth group
dynamic on youth enterprise development funded projects performance in Isiolo County. The
study was grounded on the Joseph Schumpeter’s Entrepreneurship Theory and Human capital
theory. Descriptive survey design was selected since the researcher did not have direct control
over the independent variables as their manifestation had already occurred and these variables
did not render themselves to manipulation. The target population of the study was 474
individuals from Isiolo county, who had in one way or the other been involved in youth
enterprise development funded projects. Two hundred and eighty-six respondents were then
sampled in the study, with each of the three stratums having sample sizes. Data was collected
from the identified respondents using questionnaires that were distributed by the research
assistants. The questionnaire utilized two sections. Section A of the questionnaire had questions
on the demographic characteristics of respondents and Section B consisted the questions on the
variables under study. After the questionnaires were returned, the raw data collected was
cleaned, edited, coded and tabulated in line with the study objectives. The quantitative data was
collected using the closed ended questions. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish the
relations between the independent and dependent variables. Descriptive statistics such as
frequencies, percentages, mean score and standard deviation were estimated for all the
quantitative variables and information presented inform of tables. The qualitative data from the
open-ended questions were analyzed using conceptual content analysis and presented in prose
form. The study found that entrepreneurial course, record keeping training, business management
training influence the performance of youth enterprise development funded projects in Isiolo
County to a great extent. The study concluded that Monitoring and evaluation had the greatest
influences on the performance of youth enterprise development funded projects in Isiolo County
followed by entrepreneurial skills then training and development then access to market while
youth group dynamics had the least influence on performance of youth enterprise development
funded projects in Isiolo County. The study recommends that that to enhance youth groups’
performance including productivity, the government (county and national) to release adequate
resources and equipment preceded with formal training to youth groups and that the Youth
groups should be assisted to increase uptake of available resources through project management
skills building in line with government regulations which they most preferred to cease
dependency on members’ monetary contributions in running groups since most youth have low
income | en_US |
