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Mechanisms of Youth Participation in Governance in Kenyan Counties: A Case of Tharaka-Nithi County

Received: 14 June 2022     Accepted: 24 June 2022     Published: 30 June 2022
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Abstract

This research focused on examining the mechanisms of youth participation in governance in Kenya. The researchers limited their investigation to Tharaka Nithi county’s four sub-counties. The study used a concurrent triangulation mixed-method research design which involved both quantitative and qualitative data collection phases simultaneously, then analysing the results. A total of 156 respondents were involved, 39 from each sub-county. The findings of the study were that the majority of the participants obtained governance training through the civil societies, followed by mass media, then the community, then politicians, and lastly the chiefs, however, they were not adequately involved in governance processes. Participants were taught how to monitor and ensure the following; accountability, transparency, participation, efficiency, rule of law, effectiveness, and responsiveness. This has an implication that the youths were trained on civic engagement, accountable decision making, and effective public service delivery in the whole Tharaka Nithi County. The training improved the youth’s understanding of participation in governance. It was determined that 71.7% of the predictor factors account for training offered having improved the youth’s understanding of participation in governance in Tharaka Nithi County. There are however other factors other than the predictor factors that also accounted for the training offered having improved the youths’ understanding of participation in governance in Tharaka Nithi County. These unexplained factors account for 28.3%. The study, therefore, recommends that the youth be more involved in governance because they have sufficient training and can make rational decisions.

Published in Journal of Public Policy and Administration (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17
Page(s) 105-113
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Governance, Mechanisms, Civic Engagement

References
[1] A. Kumar, Research methodology in social science, New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2003.
[2] A. O. Awiti and B. Scott, "The Kenya Youth Survey Report: Executive Summary," The Agakhan University, Nairobi, 2016.
[3] A. Smith, C. Marks, M. Novelli, O. Valiente and R. Scandurra, "The links between equity, governance, education and peacebuilding in Kenya," UNICEF, Nairobi, 2016.
[4] D. Nassiuma, Survey Sampling: Theory and Methods, Nairobi: University Press, 2000.
[5] J. D. Brown, "The Cronbach alpha reliability estimate," JALT Testing & Evaluation SIG Newsletter, pp. 17-18, 2002.
[6] J. M. Kariuki, "The Link Between Marginalization, Poor Governance And Youth Instigated Conflicts In Nairobi, Kenya," University of Nairobi, Nairobi, 2018.
[7] J. W. Creswell, Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2014.
[8] Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, "2019 Kenya Population And Housing Census Results," Kenya National Bureau Of Statistics, Nairobi, 2020.
[9] L. R. Allen, B. A. Garst, E. P. Bowers and K. K. Onyiko, "Building a Youth Development System in Kenya: Comparing Kenyan Perceptions of Local and National Systems," Journal of youth development, p. 51, 2018.
[10] M. Oosterom, "Youth Engagement in the Realm of Local Governance: Opportunities for Peace?," IDS, Brighton, 2018.
[11] M. T. Grasso and J. Bessant, Governing youth politics in the age of surveillance, London: Routledge, 2018.
[12] N. Golafshani, "Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research: The qualitative report," University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2003.
[13] N. J. Salkind, Encyclopedia of research design, Los Angeles, Calif: SAGE, 2010.
[14] S. Ayele, S. Khan and J. & Sumberg, "Introduction: new perspectives on Africa’s youth employment challenge," Institute of Development Studies Bulletin, p. 48, 2017.
[15] Soppitt, S., Oswald, R., & Walker, S. (2021). Condemned to precarity? Criminalised youths, social enterprise and the sub-precariat. Social Enterprise Journal.
[16] W. Sambo, "Factors affecting youth entrepreneurship development within Kibera, Kenya: the perspective of entrepreneurship education," Problems and Perspectives in Management, pp. 2-2, 2016.
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  • APA Style

    Vengi Ambrose, Nzioka John, Lumadede Japheth. (2022). Mechanisms of Youth Participation in Governance in Kenyan Counties: A Case of Tharaka-Nithi County. Journal of Public Policy and Administration, 6(2), 105-113. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17

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    ACS Style

    Vengi Ambrose; Nzioka John; Lumadede Japheth. Mechanisms of Youth Participation in Governance in Kenyan Counties: A Case of Tharaka-Nithi County. J. Public Policy Adm. 2022, 6(2), 105-113. doi: 10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17

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    AMA Style

    Vengi Ambrose, Nzioka John, Lumadede Japheth. Mechanisms of Youth Participation in Governance in Kenyan Counties: A Case of Tharaka-Nithi County. J Public Policy Adm. 2022;6(2):105-113. doi: 10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17,
      author = {Vengi Ambrose and Nzioka John and Lumadede Japheth},
      title = {Mechanisms of Youth Participation in Governance in Kenyan Counties: A Case of Tharaka-Nithi County},
      journal = {Journal of Public Policy and Administration},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {105-113},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20220602.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jppa.20220602.17},
      abstract = {This research focused on examining the mechanisms of youth participation in governance in Kenya. The researchers limited their investigation to Tharaka Nithi county’s four sub-counties. The study used a concurrent triangulation mixed-method research design which involved both quantitative and qualitative data collection phases simultaneously, then analysing the results. A total of 156 respondents were involved, 39 from each sub-county. The findings of the study were that the majority of the participants obtained governance training through the civil societies, followed by mass media, then the community, then politicians, and lastly the chiefs, however, they were not adequately involved in governance processes. Participants were taught how to monitor and ensure the following; accountability, transparency, participation, efficiency, rule of law, effectiveness, and responsiveness. This has an implication that the youths were trained on civic engagement, accountable decision making, and effective public service delivery in the whole Tharaka Nithi County. The training improved the youth’s understanding of participation in governance. It was determined that 71.7% of the predictor factors account for training offered having improved the youth’s understanding of participation in governance in Tharaka Nithi County. There are however other factors other than the predictor factors that also accounted for the training offered having improved the youths’ understanding of participation in governance in Tharaka Nithi County. These unexplained factors account for 28.3%. The study, therefore, recommends that the youth be more involved in governance because they have sufficient training and can make rational decisions.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AU  - Vengi Ambrose
    AU  - Nzioka John
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    AB  - This research focused on examining the mechanisms of youth participation in governance in Kenya. The researchers limited their investigation to Tharaka Nithi county’s four sub-counties. The study used a concurrent triangulation mixed-method research design which involved both quantitative and qualitative data collection phases simultaneously, then analysing the results. A total of 156 respondents were involved, 39 from each sub-county. The findings of the study were that the majority of the participants obtained governance training through the civil societies, followed by mass media, then the community, then politicians, and lastly the chiefs, however, they were not adequately involved in governance processes. Participants were taught how to monitor and ensure the following; accountability, transparency, participation, efficiency, rule of law, effectiveness, and responsiveness. This has an implication that the youths were trained on civic engagement, accountable decision making, and effective public service delivery in the whole Tharaka Nithi County. The training improved the youth’s understanding of participation in governance. It was determined that 71.7% of the predictor factors account for training offered having improved the youth’s understanding of participation in governance in Tharaka Nithi County. There are however other factors other than the predictor factors that also accounted for the training offered having improved the youths’ understanding of participation in governance in Tharaka Nithi County. These unexplained factors account for 28.3%. The study, therefore, recommends that the youth be more involved in governance because they have sufficient training and can make rational decisions.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 2
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Author Information
  • Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tharaka University College, Marimanti, Kenya

  • Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tharaka University College, Marimanti, Kenya

  • Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tharaka University College, Marimanti, Kenya

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