Assessment of the Communication Strategies Used in Uptake of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund Initiative: Case of Nakuru County

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of existing communication strategies in the adoption of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in Nakuru County. The study objectives were: to investigate the methods of communication youth in selected Nakuru County constituencies have access to and regularly use for empowerment information, to establish communication strategies used by the county government to create awareness of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, to explore the extent to which the youth are aware of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in Nakuru County and to find out the communication factors that affect youth access to Youth Enterprise Development Fund. The study used two theories namely; social cognitive theory and information processing theory. The study used quantitative and qualitative research approaches using descriptive research design. Using random sampling method, the study target 165 youth in Nakuru County aged between 20-34 in Nakuru Town west, Bahati and Njoro Constituencies which are all located near Nakuru County Headquarters. The study interviewed 10 key informants who were identified through purposive sampling. The researcher used questionnaires in collecting data from youth and in-depth interviews in collecting data from the key informants. The quantitative data collected was keyed in into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program to enable generation of percentages and frequencies which are presented in graph and pie charts and in turn analysed under each objective. The qualitative data was transcribed to identify specific themes and analysed using the study objectives. Emerging themes were categorized and analysed. The study found out that 78.9% of the respondents know or have ever heard about the Youth Enterprise Development Fund initiative mainly through media campaigns and advertisements however they lack information at the local level due to inaccessibility of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund offices and the youth fund officials at the local levels. 48% of the respondents have a preference for the social media as an empowerment tool however this could not be related to empowerment. Only 10.9% of the respondents have benefitted from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in Nakuru County and there is need for more awareness initiatives in the county. The study recommends the use of social media to communicate youth empowerment initiatives as well as having local awareness meeting so as to attain the impact of the initiatives. Secondly there is need to have local office that reach to the people at the grassroots levels and also the youth involvement in all the empowerment initiatives.