| dc.description.abstract | The Government has invested in rural communities with a sole aim of improving the social and
economic lives of those living in the rural areas. This is through programme and projects such as
rural electrification. These projects are expensive both in design and implementation. One of
these areas that have been earmarked by the government is Kilifi County. The question is
whether these projects deliver the desired outcome. The purpose of this study was therefore to
find out factors that influence the implementation of rural electrification programme in Kilifi
County. The objectives of the study were, to assess the influence of institutional reforms on
implementation of rural electrification, to examine the influence of millennium development
goals on implementation of rural electrification programme, to determine the extent to which
public participation influence the implementation of rural electrification programme and to
assess the influence of political support on implementation of rural electrification programme.
The study adopted a descriptive design of the implementation. The target population was 100
respondents which included trading centers, schools and dispensaries connected or already
identified to be connected spread through the constituencies in Kilifi County and that are likely
to benefit through the programme. The stratified randomized sampling design was used. Data
collection was carried out through questionnaires and drop and pick method was used to
distribute the questionnaires. The data was analyzed quantitatively using statistical package for
social sciences and presented through tables showing frequencies, percentages, means and chisquare.
The findings that were made as follows: - Donor funding was the major attribute of
improvement from institutional reforms that contribute to an improvement of rural electrification
programme, Enhanced universal primary education which is a major goal to achieving MDGs
was voted the best of the Millennium development goals achievements as a result of
implementation of REP, On ways in which public participation has influenced implementation of
REP,community empowerment was voted to be the best influence of public participation on REP
and the study revealed that 49.4% of the respondents think that the level of political support is
Medium.The study recommends that Institutional reform measures that include integration of
Rural electrification with rural development to ensure maximization of the benefits of
electrification and to facilitate increased electricity demand should be put in place. In this regard,
rural development should facilitate the development of rural businesses and complementing
infrastructure and services such as roads, water supply, schools and health services. The study
also recommends an urgent need to establish reliable databases on the electrification of the poor.
This is absolutely essential for monitoring rural electrification programmes to ensure they are
aligned to the millennium development goals and vision 2030.Communities must also take a
greater role and responsibility in Rural electrification activities. This can be achieved by
engaging and involving community members in rural electrification programmes such as
construction of lines, granting of way leaves permission through their land for electricity lines
construction. Regulators must also ensure consumer protection through price regulation and
enforcement of performance standards. The performance of the electrification agencies should be
evaluated by the number of new connections, particularly in poor rural areas. Significantly,
higher rural electrification targets than those currently set should be established. The targets
should include explicit and ambitious goals for the electrification of the poor. | en_US |
