| dc.description.abstract | The Government of Kenya has since the 1990s established several devolved funds to enhance citizen participation in governance and accelerate national development. The Youth Enterprise and Development Fund in particular was conceived as a strategic initiative to empower young enterpreneurs small and medium enterprises in the informal sector through provision of micro _ to boost their businesses. The target of the Fund is young people within the age bracket of 18 to 35 years who intend to start or expand businesses either as a group, company or on individual basis. The District Youth Officer in the respective districts provides the application for the group or constituency component while company or individuals applicants apply directly to the participating Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) which issue their own regulations.
The focus of this study was to assess the role of YEDF in employment creation. The study was conducted in Starehe district, Nairobi and targeted young entrepreneurs who have benefited from the Fund through the Financial Intermediaries and the Constituency Youth Enterprise Scheme (C-YES). The study sites were Mathare, Ngara, Huruma, Starehe, and Kariokor. The study adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach and utilized both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected using personal interviews and key informants data collection methods while secondary data was gathered through desk research reviews of documents related to the study. A total of 67 youth out of 273 from the 23 youth groups, 11 key informants and 4 Focused group discussions representing 23 youth groups in the five locations in Starehe district were interviewed. The theoretical framework was based on rational choice theory, exchange theory and sequential theory of decentralization.
The results of this study are as follows: The Fund has created employment to 320 youth, of this 273 are directly employed by the group and 47 have been employed by the groups. Each group had employed between 0-5 employees. Most of the groups were created in response to the Fund. The groups had hired between 2-5 employees. Initially they had no employees since the business had a low income which could barely support the members.
The group approach to business as prescribed by the guidelines demotivates many youth; it is a challenge because group formation is hectic; it was difficult to find like minded people and more so agreeing on a common business idea is very hard. The Kshs.50, 000 loan per youth group is too little for any considerable group business improvement; the waiting period between applying and receiving the loan was too long for instance, 38.9% of the respondents waited for more than six months; the 2 Million disbursed to every constituency per year is little as well given that all constituencies have no equal number of youth group.;
The repayment period is too short for a business to have established itself and start repaying the loan. The grace period is 3-months and full repayment is expected within 12 months after the grace period. The sustainability of the Fund is questionable given the low repayment. The youth do not fully participate and are not involved in the governance structures from the grassroots youth groups, to all the higher level formal institutions created for governance of the Fund. The study recommends that for the Fund to be more effective in empowering the youth, emphasis should be put in giving more training in entrepreneurship skills to youth before and after accessing the loan. The Kshs.50, 000 should be increased and pegged on the business proposal. There is need for rapid evaluation on the Fund to be carried out to ascertain its sustainability in the long term. | en_US |
