Determinants Of The Implementation Of Child Protection Programs In Kilifi County – Kenya

Abstract

Child protection is increasingly becoming an important social issue in the contemporary world. This is because children are increasingly being exposed to violence, exploitation and all forms of violation of their rights. As expected therefore, many stakeholders, both state and non-state, have come up to address this issue. Kilifi County is one of the regions where children’s lives are threatened by various forms of abuses. Child protection service providers have done a lot, but a lot more is still desired. The county has been a beneficiary of some very good child protection programs. Unfortunately, not all these programs achieved, or are achieving, what they set out to accomplish. The purpose of this study is to establish the determinants of the implementation of child protection programs in Kilifi County. The study was guided by five objectives which are to examine the influence of financial resources, human resources, inter-agency partnerships, top management support and monitoring and evaluation on the implementation of child protection programs in Kilifi County. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study sampled (90) respondents to be drawn from (12) child protection organizations with a total population of (901) in Kilifi County. Data collection was carried out using questionnaires and key informant interview guide. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 24). The study results were presented through tables and narratives. The data was then presented through frequency tables and narrative analysis. All measures were recorded on five point Likert scales anchored by Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5). Hypothesis was tested after each question as per the objective by the researcher using the simple Chi-Square test. The alternative hypotheses were accepted. Therefore findings revealed that there was significant relationship between financial resources availability and the success of child protection programs implementation; Human resources have significant influence in the success of child protection programs implementation; There is significant relationship between inter- agency Partnerships in the level of success of Child Protection Programs implementation, there is a significant relationship between Top Management Support and the success of Child Protection Programs implementation, there was significant relationship between Monitoring and Evaluation and the success of Child Protection Programs implementation in Kilifi County. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher suggests research to be done to find out if there are other confounding determinants that influence implementation of child protection programs such abject poverty among the population in Kilifi County, retrogressive cultural practices and beliefs that influence child protection interventions negatively. The research recommends that; financial resources should be made available so that they support the child protection programs. Also, human resource capacity should be improved as well as involve more stakeholders and partners if successes of the child protection programs are to be realized. Child protection programs should get top management support to be implemented successfully. Monitoring and evaluation of the child protection programs need to be done regularly to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. Key words: child protection; implementation; human resource; financial resource; top management support; monitoring and evaluation.