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An analysis of the social-economic characteristics of micro-finance clients. A case study of Bimas clients in Embu Districts
No full textHG 178.33.W3 2009 C4The purpose of this study was to come up with a profile of the salient socio-economic characteristic of people who seek MFis' services. Specifically, the study was to shed light on their poverty status, the type of economic activities they engage in and their demographic characteristics. The research focused on clients of BIMAS operating within the five divisions of Embu district.
A target population of one thousand, one hundred and fifty six (1156) formed the sampling frame from which a sample of sixty (60) who had been in the programme for not more than six months was taken. A questionnaire, personal interviews, and observation were utilized to collect primary data from the respondents. Secondary data was gathered from the BIMAS office and other researches. The data was analyzed using the statistics package of social sciences (SPSS) The research findings gave a general profile of the clients reached by MFis. The MFI clients are mainly male in the 26-40 age brackets that live in households of between 4 and 6 members which are predominantly male headed. A high proportion of the clients are married and do not suffer from any physical disability. Slightly over half of the clients have attained secondary school education and most have attended other trainin
Assessment of factors influencing replenishment of donor funds to community projects in Kenya,Case: International fund for agricultural development
No full textOver the past 20 years, Kenya has benefited from about USD 122 million in
Funding from IF AD, representing one of IFAD's largest country portfolios for rural poverty alleviation in Africa. The IF AD loan funds are channeled through the treasury and accounted for through Government budgetary procedures. Projects are factored in the development budget, appearing in Government's Printed Estimates. The project spends and asks for replenishment through the Ministry of Finance and the lead Ministry which is the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. However desk review of IFAD in Kenya undertaken in June 2001 drew substantive conclusions about complex financial management procedures resulting in slow replenishment of IFAD funds. (IFAD Country Strategic Opportunities Papers 2002). Slow replenishment process is one of the factors that hinder effective implementation of community projects. Since there are various internal steps which have to be followed for funds to be approved. The research was carried out with the objective of examining the factors affecting replenishment of donor funds. It was concerned with the replenishment process which involves transfer of funds from the offshore account to the project account. The study sought to identify the objectives by assessing the processing procedures, communication and information flow, capacity in terms of experience, skills, staffing and technology in use and follow-up and monitoring. The study began in chapter one with a background of IF AD, current replenishment process then the study problem, research questions, objectives and significance of the study. The methodology adapted by the survey was descriptive. The research was based on the departments involved in the replenishment of donor funds. The target population was 135 officers which included the accountants, human resource staffs and disbursement staffs in the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Central Bank of Kenya and the Project Management Unit staffs. The data was collected by the use of questionnaires and was analyzed through descriptive statistics. The study findings in chapter four indicated that the main factors affecting the replenishment process were lengthy processing procedures as indicated by the time taken for transfer of funds , lack of proper communication and information flow between the departments, lack of staffs and lack of proper follow-up and monitoring at all levels. In this regard the Government and Donors should come up with practical and effective ways of improving the flow of funds and the replenishment process in order to speed up the implementation of community projects and achieve the projects objective of improving the welfare of the rural poor
Evaluation of the factors that determine that determine the success of small scale retail businesses:
No full textHF 5429.6 .M8 2009 C1ABSTRACT.
The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors that determine the success of small-scale retail businesses within Meru Municipality. Small-scale retail businesses play a significant role in the country's economy. This sector provides goods and services and is also a driver in promoting competition and innovation; hence enhancing the enterprise culture, which is necessary for private sector development and industrialization. In this study small scale retail businesses are treated as MSE"s for purposes of this research. Many countries in the world have realized the importance of small-scale retail businesses and therefore are working to increase performance and competitiveness. This is necessary if the small - scale retail businesses can effectively respond to the challenges of creating productive and sustainable employment opportunities, promoting economic growth and poverty reduction. In Kenya, small scale retail businesses cut across all sectors of the country's economy and provide one of the most prolific sources of employment not to mention the breeding ground for medium and larger industries, which are critical industrialization today, these enterprises are found in every corner of Kenya they have great potential for creating a variety of jobs, while generating widespread economic benefits in order to enhance the capacity of small scale businesses to create durable and decent jobs, the government, in consultation with key stakeholders have reviewed a way forward for the millennium goals. It was in the light of the above that the study was designed to evaluate the factors that determine the success of small scale retail businesses. The scope of the study was limited to Meru Municipality. The location was chosen because it gave good representation of small scale retail businesses. The enterprises provided good characteristics and results of small-scale retail
businesses. The research design for the study was a survey, where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected, in order to evaluate the factors that determine the success of small scale retail businesses. The population of the study was small scale businesses operating within Meru municipality. The target respondents were owners of small scale retail businesses. Random sampling method were used, which realized a sample size of 265 businesses out of the 1325 registered retail businesses ,across all sectors of the total population. Questionnaires were the main data collection tool. Secondary data was from Meru municipal Council records. Analysis of the data used multiple regressions to check the relationship between the independent variables i.e. financial resources, external business environment, education, experience of entrepreneurs and dependent variable i.e. business profits. It was established that most of the retail businesses in Meru Municipality are Some of the major challenges these businesses face include lack of business skills, unfavorable governments polices and dynamic consumer behavior. Among the recommendations that the government should initiate are incentives to encourage the retail traders to train in basic business management skills, as this be achieved by liaising with prospects
Evaluation of response strategies of the ministry of lands in land adjudication
No full textIn adjudication programmes in Kenya a total of 1,559,479 titles covering 8.01 million hectares have been realized, while under settlement programmes a total of 445 settlement schemes exists countrywide covering 1.02 million hectares on which 179,300 families are settled. However, even with this impressive performance, the Ministry of Lands is bogged down with numerous challenges in fulfilling its land adjudication targets and this is the reason that has prompted this study to establish why after 44 years of independence the issue of land rights ascertainment has not been finalized in the larger Meru Central District The main objective of the study is to evaluate various strategies that the department of land adjudication and settlement has implemented to achieve its target in the larger Meru Central District. The research findings are that the Ministry of Lands is negatively affected by under-staffing, limited resources at its disposal for Service Delivery, weak non-responsive organization structure that does not allow switching of staff among the departments. The study strongly supports the entire null hypothesis on organization structure, financial resources and staffing
Impact of performance contracting in public service delivery
Get PDFHF 5549 .N3 2009ABSTRACT
Public sector reforms have become the norm in the present world. This has been necessitated the poor performance of the state enterprises that have become a burden both financially and administratively. Tax payers have come out openly demanding the value for their money i.e. efficient, effective and ethical delivery of service to the citizens. In Kenya, these public sector reforms have been• embraced partly through signing of performance contracts. This research project looks at the impact of such performance contracts in the National Registration Bureau. The department charged with registering Kenyans of 18years and above in the former Meru Central District. It tries to find out whether "Not Previously Registered" figures increase with the signing of performance contracts. Not Previously Registered refers to Kenyans acquiring identity cards for the first time. It is also aimed at finding out whether there are other variables that the government can tap to enhance the "Not Previously Registered" figures. These independent variables include financial resources and events taking place like elections and referendums. The project encountered its own limitation when some data could not be found in the initially designed offices. This was overcome by consulting the National Registration Bureau Headquarters Nairobi, at an extra cost of time and money. The officers at the National Bureau Headquarters were hesitant to give the data until when permission was granted by the director. Justification of the project is outlined as well as the objective. The project encompasses both theoretical and empirical literature review, showing what other writers views on performance contracts are. Using secondary data from the North Imenti District Registrar's office, covering the period 1999 - 2008, and analyzing it using descriptive statistics, the research was able to identify the periods with high and low "Not Previously Registered" figures. During this period, Kenya has had 2 general elections and a referendum in 2005 factors that affect the performance of the department. It is during the later years of this period that the National Registration Bureau embraced use of performance contracts and this paper tried to establish if the 'NPR' figures go up with the signing of the PCs, thus better Public Service Delivery. The project sampled 49068 cases from a population of 135292 cases. Data presentation and analysis was done using bar graphs and percentages
Factors influencing members withdrawal from the SACCO:A case of Tharaka Nithi Teachers SACCO Society Ltd
No full textWhile Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (saccos) are an autonomous associations of persons untied voluntarily to meet their economic and social needs, their survival has been threatened by competition from mainstream commercial banks. Saccos are affected by high loan delinquencies and poor management in spite of having mobilized reasonable amount of funds due to lack of regulatory framework to guide their operations. Recent concern has been that members withdraw from the saccos due to high loan demand. How to cope with the members withdrawal from the sacco is the focus of this paper, especially after acquiring credit facility from the commercial banks. The research has been descriptive in nature and involves revealing of the main challenges being faced by saccos. The research has used questionnaires and interview schedules. The population for this study is 4000 sacco member, 250 teachers who have left the society and 14 members of staff It was found that members go for bank loans because banks advance big amount of loans than saccos. The high interest rates offered by banks did not deter members' move to banks for loaning. The study concludes that saccos face stiff competition in their business operations. Commercial banks have strong capital base, thus buying sacco members loans. This weakens the sacco operations affecting their performance
Factors influencing change management practices in coffee cooperative unions in Kenya
No full textChange management is a common management approach in business organization, the concept has not been fully adopted and practiced in coffee farmer's cooperative unions particularly those whose membership is the primary coffee societies. This study focused on the analysis of factors that influence change management practices in coffee cooperative unions in Kenya. The objective of this research was to assess the factors that influenced the process of change in coffee farmers' cooperative unions. The idea was to investigate specifically how change management was being translated in the management of unions' cooperative based development activities. Thus the study was addressing the factors influencing change practices such as, organization structure, leadership capacity, technology and communication. The researcher used a descriptive research design. The design helped to answer the questions such as how, what, when, and where. Thus the design was suitable to answer the questions concerning the current status of change management practices in coffee cooperative unions. The research focused on Meru central coffee cooperative union limited (MCCCU ltd) which has eighty (80) employees consisting of management and subordinate staff. Meru central coffee cooperative union was used as a representative union for all other unions in Kenya because they all assume same values such as self-help, self -¬responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity, as well as ethical values, honesty, openness, social reasonability and caring for others. These values underlie the principles for cooperatives, which are seen as essential to the cooperative spirit in all cooperative unions: Voluntary and open membership, Democratic member control, Member economic participation, Autonomy and independence, Education, training and information, Co-operation among cooperatives and Concern for the community. The study sample was selected from the target population using stratified random sampling method. Simple random sampling was used to take a sample in each group or strata. The study used self-administered questionnaire to collect data. The researcher used drop and pick method to administer the questionnaires. The data was processed and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics such as means of occurrences or central tendencies were used for analysis. A Logit model was used to analyze the data and Omnibus (Chi-square) was used to test the significance of the model coefficients. At-test was carried out to establish the significance of the variables and a logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The results were presented in summary reports, and tables based on those tests and analysis of research dimensions. Research findings were used to conclude on hypotheses where the null hypotheses were rejected and alternative hypotheses accepted at 0.1(10%) level of significance, and recommendations were given concerning those factors that influence change management practices
Role of micro-finance in economic empowerment of women. A study of micro-finance institutions in North Imenti District
No full textP/S HG 178. M8 2009The study intended to examine the role of microfinance in economic empowerment of women. The major aim of microfinance institutions is to provide financial services to the poor and marginalized members of the community like women. Women produce 80% of food consumed in Sub-Saharan Africa, 50-60% of all staples in Asia, and generate 30% of all food consumed in Latin America [Saito 1994].There's a growing recognition internationally that gender equality is good for economic growth and essential for poverty reduction [Ellis 2004]. Women in Kenya are poorer than men, with 54% of rural and 63% of urban women and girls living below the poverty line [Government of Kenya 1997]. Women in Kenya are also "time-poor" because of their dual roles in the household economy and the labour market. On average, women work longer hours [12.9 hours] compared with those of men (8.2 hours], yet they earn less because more of these hours are not remunerated [Saito, Mekonnen, and Spurling 1994] However, women remam disadvantaged, especially in the poorest countries. Their opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement are usually markedly inferior to those of men. They often face barriers in gaining access to good education and health care for both economic and cultural reasons like early forced marriages. Micro:finance came into being with an aim of providing high quality financial services to the Kenyan public particularly the poor and to maintain high moral and financial standards in the Microfinance sector. According to Microfinance Directory [2007], Association of micro finance Institutions [ AMFI] was registered in 1999, and is currently composed of a total clientele of over 2 million clients and an outstanding loan portfolio of Ksh. 20 billion. Sisdo, Bimas, K-Rep, and Kenya Women Finance Trust [K.W.F.T] are among the 33 MFis and have branches in North Imenti District where the study was carried. I choose them because they are registered as required by law
The management concerns affecting implementation of performance appraisal system in government departments in Kenya
No full textHF 5549.17 .N8 2009 C2ABSTRACT
Its is a known fact that the Kenyan economy was growing at rate of less than 1 % before December 2002, due to declining efficiency, effectiveness and productivity in delivery of service by the public sector. It's for this reason, the NARC government introduced several strategies to revive the economy among them poverty eradication strategy 2002 to 2003, economic recovery strategy (ERS) which contributed to the economic growth of almost 7% in 2007. This growth rate has been attributed to the government commitment to create a culture of performance oriented attitude among the public sector through performance contracting strategy leading to improved efficiency and effectiveness. The performance contracting is evaluated through performance appraisal system and it is against this background that this research report on the findings of evaluation of the strategic management concerns affecting the implementation of performance appraisal system at district level by the civil servants. The report is on research conducted in Tigania District targeting the twenty five heads of departments and three employees from each of the twenty five ministries in the district. The study used descriptive research design; in particular survey research was used where a total of eighty nine respondents participated. The researcher used probability sampling method where random sampling was used to get the three employees who participate from each ministry. In addition, purposive method was used to sample the twenty five heads of the department because of their strategic role they play in evaluation of employees under them and therefore determining the success of performance appraisal system. The research used questionnaires to collect data from the sampled population; the data was then summarized into frequency tables, and finally analyzed using descriptive analysis, regression and non-parametric correlations. The research found out that the structure, culture personal skills reward system and proper change management variables positively influences performance appraisal system implementation This research recommends that the government should come up with policies that will emphasize continuous training of its workers and a scheme of service that encourage creativity, career growth and a reward system that is satisfactory to performing employees
An investigation of branding strategies used by Tea packers in Kenya.A case study of the registered Tea packers in the industry.
No full textThere has been a global slump in prices of tea from 3.3 per kilo. This represents a drop of 47% due to global over production, declining tea consumption and other tea substitutes. The question facing tea producers and marketers is whether their foray into branding of their products will assist in changing this in order to grow earnings. The objective of this study was to investigate and determine the extent to which branding strategies are pursued by the registered tea packers in Kenya and to identify the factors hindering the practice of product branding. The results of the study will benefit tea packers, academicians, consumers of tea products, and all stakeholders of the industry. This study used a descriptive research design. The Target population was the registered tea packers in Kenya. It was comprised of the brand managers of the registered tea packing companies. Since it was a census survey study no sampling was done. The data was analyzed by use of frequencies, mean scores and standard deviation to determine the levels of product branding. The data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores and standard deviation while output of the data analysis was presented in tables. The study revealed that that the level of product brand development and management is still very low because it is practiced at a substantial level by only 14% of the packers who are the market leaders. The other 86% have not developed sufficient capacities to carry out significant brand development and management. The response rate was 60% of those targeted, this compromised the quantity and quality of data collected hence reduced research accuracy. The study recommends that tea packers in the industry should develop further and expand their capacities for brand development and management and in effect their brand marketing strategies. This should be with a view to developing long term internationally recognized brands that can possess global brand presence in terms of presence, value and equity. The study also recommends a study be done to determine the competitive advantages arising out of product branding to tea packers in both the local and international markets