| dc.description.abstract | In 2010, Kenya enacted a new Constitution that specifically addresses longstanding economic, historical, geographic, demographic and human rights violations that have hindered progressive development. In the Kenyan constitution the youth, women and persons living with disability have been identified as the marginalized groups in the society. This study was necessitated by the fact that unemployment is one of the challenges facing the country with women, youths and persons with disability missing out on the few employment opportunities that are being generated by the economy. The purpose of the study was to analyze the factors that influence sustainability of Uwezo fund projects in Maragua Sub County in Kenya. The study was guided by four objectives; to examine the influence of Uwezo fund management committee composition on sustainability of Uwezo fund projects in Maragua sub county, to determine how entrepreneurial training influences sustainability of Uwezo fund projects in Maragua Sub-County, to establish the extent to which monitoring and evaluation influences sustainability of Uwezo funded projects in Maragua Sub-County and to find out whether legal environment influences sustainability of Uwezo fund projects in Maragua Sub-County. The target population of this study consisted of 13 constituency Uwezo fund committee members (CUFCM), 6 Persons with disability groups, 121 youth groups and101 women groups giving a total of 241 individuals. Census and Stratified random sampling was employed to get a total of 85 respondents. The study used questionnaires as instruments to collect data. The study consisted of two sets of questionnaires, one targeting 13 CUFCM and the second was administered to 72 youth, women and PWD groups. Data was analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) on the basis of the objectives and research hypothesis. The findings of the research were presented in tables to form the basis for the recommendations of the research. The findings of the study were; there was statistically significant association between Uwezo fund management committee composition and sustainability of Uwezo fund projects since χ2 =10.476 and p<005, there was a strong positive correlation between entrepreneurial training for Uwezo funded groups and sustainability of the fund (r = 0.903, p<0.05), there was a strong positive correlation between entrepreneurial training for Uwezo funded groups and sustainability of the fund (r = 0.862, p<0.05) which was significant, there is statistically significant relationship between legal environment and sustainability of Uwezo fund projects ( χ2 =17.2 and p= 000). The study recommends that the government should come up with a minimum qualification for the management committee and not the current situation as in the case revealed by the findings of this study, the management committees should increase the frequency of training of all the groups so that the business management skills can improve, the government officials should intensify the monitoring and evaluation as opposed to members doing monitoring and evaluation and the groups should be sensitized on seeking official licenses for their business as well as paying taxes. | en_US |
