| dc.description.abstract | The Forests Act 2005 enacted in 2007 revised 2016 has brought a paradigm shift in forest
management as it upholds the principles of public participation in forest resources. The study
examined the drivers of community participation in Participatory Forest Management (PFM). It
examined the drivers on households near indigenous and plantation forest within the same forest
block in Kessup forest in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The objectives of the study were to assess
the households’ drivers to participate in PFM, community forest associations (CFA) composition
and level participation in and to assess the stakeholders and their roles in Kessup forest. Data
were collected through structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and the focus group
discussions. Data collection were done along 15Km transect, sampling 96 households after every
5th households within 0-5km from the nearest edge of the forest. Descriptive and inferential
statistics were used for the data analysis. Summative content analysis was used to analyze
qualitative data. The results indicate that socio-economic and biophysical factors drive the
community involvement in PFM. The age, distance, gender, education level, awareness of the
forest act, products derived from the forest, ownership of livestock and fodder sources all at
(p<0.05). The involvement of the community members in PFM is mostly driven by tangible
material gains regardless of the forest type. Besides Kenya Forest Service, other stakeholders
involved in the management of Kessup forest were, the community members, Kenya Wildlife
Service (KWS) and Non-Governmental Organizations. Despite lack of coordination of forest
activities among the aforementioned stakeholders, their undertakings were mostly geared
towards community empowerment. There was low involvement of community in decisionmaking
processes. | en_US |
