Factors Influencing Utilization Of The Women Entreprise Fund: A Case Of Dagoretti North Constituency;nairobi County - Kenya

Abstract

The Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) is one of the initiatives of the Kenya government as a strategy for poverty alleviation and for bridging the gender gap. The way of life however as prescribed by our society in lieu of multifaceted nature of our inherent culture has made it difficult for the women to engage fully in the realization of their economic independence. The purpose of this research was to examine some of the factors that influence utilization of WEF in Dagoretto North Constituency. Four objectives guided this research study. These included; to assess the influence of awareness on utilization of WEF, to establish the influence of accessibility on utilization of WEF, to determine the influence of culture on utilization of WEF and to examine the influence of entrepreneurship skills on utilization of WEF. Other studies have been carried out at individual and institutional levels some of which recommend further studies as regards the fund. The literature section of this study analyzed for empirical data as concerns the title of this research. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The rationale for choosing this design was because it involved the process of collection data from existing population units with no particular control over factors that may affect the characteristics of interest in the study. Data was collected by use of questionnaires which were administered by the researcher and her assistants. This method was preferred because of its ability to elicit more discussions with participants and explore issues linked to the study. Quantitative data analysis was adopted to analyze the data through use of SPSS version 20.This method was preferred due to its ability to reduce a lot of data and present them in frequency tables and percentages. . Logistic regression was also done on the dependent variable against the four independent variables to quantify how much of each independent variable was attributed to the dependent variable. Research findings indicate that the four factors have a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.6084 and an adjusted R2 of 0.56. This means that awareness, accessibility, entrepreneurial skills and culture contributed 56 percent of the variations in utilization of the women fund. The study recommends that both governmental and non-governmental organizations undertake a series of initiatives to increase entrepreneurial skills amongst women as well as fighting retrogressive cultural belief systems that limit women to specific gender roles in the society. More intermediaries are also recommended to offer WEF so as to enhance its accessibility.