Browsing by Author "Owino, George Evans"

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    Constituency Development Fund as an Instrument of Rural Development in Kakamega County, Kenya
    (Reviewed Journal of Social Science & Humanities, 2023-03) Matete, Jemima Butinyi; Wangaruro, Jane; Owino, George Evans
    This study sought to assess the dynamics of Constituency Development Fund (CDF)as a tool of rural development in Ikolomani Constituency, Kakamega County. Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Decentralization Theory,” whose main tenet is the linkage between decentralization,democracy, and citizen participation, guided this study. A cross-sectional researchdesign was usedandmixed methods research,whereby,bothqualitativeand quantitative research techniques and approaches were used to gather data for the study. The research study sample was determined using Andrew Fisher's Sample Size Determination Formula resulting in a sample size of 384 respondents. The instruments for data collection included a survey questionnaire, which was used to get quantitative data and focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) which were used to gather qualitative data. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean, mode, percentages, and frequency distributions. The qualitative data was analysed mathematically. The study obtained ethical approval from the KUERC and informed consent was obtained before data collection. The study established that a very majority (84.4%) indicated that they were cognisant of the existence of the CDF fund. It was also found that more than half (53.6%) of the respondents learned about the fund through chief barazas. Regarding the utilization of the fund, it was established that nearly three-quarters (72%) of the respondents perceived that Ikolomani Constituency CDF is well utilized. Lastly, most of the respondents strongly agreed that low community participation (42.5%), embezzlement of CDF (42.5%) and high levels of corruption and poor leadership (48%) were the main challenges facing the constituency development fund in Ikolomani Constituency. The study concludedthat it is paramount for policymakers and practitioners, including leaders to put in place effective strategies that will see strict adherence to the set modalities of CDFs implementation, and management that wouldpropel the realization of sustainable rural development.
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    Gender and Environmental Management
    (School of Environmental Studies and Human Sciences, Kenyatta University, 2006) Maina, L. W.; Owino, George Evans; Otor, S.C.J.
    The terms gender and development converge in various ways among them the consideration of varied roles that both sexes can play in development, the gendered distribution of benefits accruing from development together with how these benefits (and costs) affect men and women. Environmental sustainability is equally a gender issue because both men and women are beneficiaries and conservers of the environment. Though programmes targeting the proper use of the environment have in many cases ignored the value of integrating genders identities, the rationale 'for the inclusion of both men and women is not an issue in contention. The essence of being male or female within society has several dictates. On one level, it represents different social and cultural experience and secondly, it indicates particular access and control over both natural and social resources. The gender approach to development has emerged within the last four decades. Before that, past approaches to development gave no attention to gender as a factor. Consequently, the roles of men and women in development were not carefully assessed while development was perceived as something that happened to a nation rather than a process requiring conscious integration of various actors and mobilization of social inputs. More importantly is the fact that women's role in development was practically ignored. Brett April, in Wallace, (1991)documents that in the 1950s and 60s, women's interests in development were subsumed under the concerns of human rights and women were viewed as objects to protect rather than consult. Through the 1970s,women's key positions in the development process became more apparent especially in the realm of population and food. In this paradigm, women emerged as useful resources to integrate into the development process. Since the 1980s, women have been progressively viewed not just as relevant players, but also as key agents and beneficiaries in all sectors and at all levels of the development process. These changes have occurred with the growth of a better understanding of gender roles. Similarly, the perception of the relationship between gender and the environment has also evolved. Traditionally, women have been portrayed paradoxically as one with nature, close to nature and at conflict with nature. These views have had both negative and positive implications. In many cases, women's socially constructed roles have brought them in direct conflict with the environment and earned them blame for improper use of the same. According to Sontheinier (1991), persistent images of women carrying heavy loads on their heads, cultivating on sloppy terrain, harvesting various products and trading on forest products have served to reinforce already existing gender inequalities and stereotypes that do not favour women and their inclusion in environmental management programmes. Thus, the relationship between gender, environment and sustainable development can be said to be one ridden with dichotomous dimensions and complexities. These dimensions centre on among others the fact that men and women have divergent roles in society, which dictate their patterns of the use of the environment; women and men's control over resources especially in Africa varies with women being constrained in different ways so as to emerge as an ecologically marginalized group; women and men's participation in development and environmental management is not equally acknowledged; women as opposed to men are disadvantaged in the provision of ecological management training; and lastly, environmental policies often tend to subsume women and men under one group and assume similar effects on them, which is not really the case. As such, opportunities for the formulation of sound environmental and development policies are often lost, which translates into continued women marginalisation and feminisation of poverty.
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    Preferences and utilization of health services by slum residents: A case study of Mathare, Nairobi
    (2012-01-11) Owino, George Evans; Achola, P. P. W.; Isaac Mwanzo
    Health-seeking behaviour is a very important variable in understanding the health conditions of the urban slum dwellers. This study was conducted in the Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi. Mathare Valley was selected purposively because it is reputed as one of the largest, most well known and the most favoured of the slums due to its closeness to the city centre and industrial area and since it is one of the oldest, it is expected that the impact of the location will have an impact on the behaviour of the people. The main objective of the study was to find out the health facility preference and utilization patterns of slum residents in Mathare with the specific objectives being to: identify the health care services they prefer and utilize; establish the relationship between health facility preference and health facility utilization; determine the factors that are significantly related to the preference for and utilization of health facilities among slum residents; and finally, draw up relevant policy recommendations arising from the study. The study was guided by three theoretical models; the sociological interactionist theory, the health belief model and the social learning theory. The study was a cross-sectional social survey and it sampled 220 households. The respondents were the heads of households, male and female, single and married. Simple and systematic random sampling methods were used to draw the sample and the research instrument was an interview schedule. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Frequencies were used for univariate analysis whereas cross tabulations were used to represent bivariate relationships. The two-way chi-square, also known as test of indepedence was used to establish statistical independence with the contingency coefficient being used to test the strength of relationships between independent and dependent variables. Two-Way Chi-square, the test of independence is the procedure used when data consists of frequencies of subjects belonging to categories in each of two variables (Heiman, 1996). The findings of the study revealed that the residents of Mathare valley slums mostly prefer and utilize private health facilities (over 50%) followed by public health facilities (about 23%) and finally mission health facilities (about 17%) in that order. The relationship between health facility preference and utilization was found to be statistically significant (X2 = 208.72, Df.=9, p<.OOI) and a strong association (Contingency Coefficient=O. 71, p<.OO1) was identified. Several socio-economic, demographic and socio-cognitive factors were found to be significantly related to and associated with health seeking behaviour. Income (30.42, Df=12,p