| dc.description.abstract | The study attempted to unveil the major problems
particularly food and water shortages experienced in
Kitui District and provide details of what an aid agency,
the Catholic Development Unit has been doing to meet
these two basic needs.
The study is based mainly on the proposition that food
and water are the greatest social problems facing
households in Kitui District but contributions of the
Catholic Development Unit have led to improvements in the
living conditions.
Theoretically, the study assumes that the Catholic
Development unit adopts the Basic Needs Approach in its
fight against food and water shortage. The Modernisation
Theory has also been a guide, to this study in visualizing
the development unit as an external aid agency committed
to instilling positive change in a disadvantaged
locality.
A sample of 180 households was the main source of data
for the study. six key informants also enriched the
findings. The main tool of data collection was the
intervew schedule or a directly administered
questionnaire. other methods used included unstructured
interviews, secondary data and direct oobservation.
Measures of central tendency and dispersion, together
with percentages were used in the presentation and
analysis of the findings. The study found out that food
shortage and water scarcity significantly affected 43.3%
and 43.9% of the sample respectively. The Catholic
Development unit was found to have been meeting
household I s food needs through relief food, food for
work, maternal and child health programme (MCR), planting
seeds , giving subsidized farm implements as well as
educating people on the need to adopt various strategies
to minimize the frequency of food deficits.
The agency has also assisted households to gain
accessibility to water supply through initiation of
protected water wells, sub-surface dams, earthdams, rock
catchments, treating springs and also helps individuals
to acquire subsidized roof catchment water tanks. The
study found utilization of projects tends to follow
religious affiliation lines and levels of income.
Development Education for self-sufficiency in food and
water supply was found to be a key priority of the
households covered.
It has been concluded that even though the Catholic
Development unit has played a crucial role in meeting
Kitui residents' key basic needs, the projects have been
more of a curative nature than preventive.
It is recommended that water projects of a larger scale
be considered to extend the services of water from
drinking to the farm as well. Awareness-raising campaigns
should be intensified to conscientize households on how
they can meet food and water needs more independently.
It has been recommended that water projects of a larger
scale should be considered to extend the services of
water from drinking to the farm as well. Awareness raising
campaigns should be intensified to conscientize
households on how they can meet food and water needs
more independently. | en |
