Browsing by Author "Waudo, Judith"

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    Administration and Scoring of Measurement tools for the Three and Four-year Old’s and Women before the RCT Baseline Survey in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2020) Oteyo, Samson; Gachara, Esther; Mvungu, Eunice; Henningham, Helen; Onywere, Simon; Niavasha, Dorothy; Waudo, Judith; Onditi, James; Mwoma,Teresa; Ong'ang'a, Hudson Ouko ; Mwangi, Margret
    The Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) child-based curriculum intervention was identified as a critical Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) strategy because women engage in unpaid childcare, which affects their livelihood in rural Kenya. To examine the impact of enrolling 3- year-olds in PP1 class under the child-based curriculum and learning environment on both children’s developmental milestones and women's economic empowerment, there was a need to adapt existing standardised tools to the local Tharaka Nithi context to assess the participant’s at baseline, midline, and endline. The tools which were used in measuring the baseline status of the participants included Daberon-2, Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI-2030), and Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA). The household survey was used to assess women's economic status. All the measurement tools used on children were translated into four major dialects spoken in Tharaka Nithi County (TNC), and some pictures of animals, objects, and foods were replaced with local ones. Appropriate and inappropriate responses were identified and revised, informing the administration and scoring of the instruments. To ensure consistency in administration and scoring, fifteen (15) assessors proficient in the dialects spoken within the county were recruited and trained through classroom roleplay, demonstrations, supervised field practice, and interrater supervision. Assessors were provided with administration and scoring guides to boost their proficiency. Using pilot data of 42 children aged between 3 to 4 years, the internal and test-retest reliability of the measurement tools used with the children met the threshold of 0.7. A pool of researchers constructed the household survey for WEE. Fifteen assessors with proficiency in the dialects within the TNC were recruited and trained on administration and scoring using didactical learning, demonstrations by the trainers, and role plays to ensure that the assessment was carried out in a standardised way. Assessors were taken through class training and field practice. The cultural adaptation and training of assessors were expected to boost the objectivity of the assessment because the findings were important in informing whether curriculum-based childcare intervention has an effect on women's economic empowerment and eventually inform policy decisions regarding the curriculum for the three-year-olds
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    Assessment of outsourcing decision-making in star-rated hotels in Nairobi-Kenya
    (2011-11-07) Marete, Nelly N.; Waudo, Judith; Ondigi, Alice
    The emergence of outsourcing service providers in the global market and the rapid development of information technology, has brought about new dimmensions in business management. Non-core activities no longer need to be done within an organisation. These activities can now be handed over to specialist outsourcing contractors whose circumstances allow for efficient delivery at a lower cost. Deciding what represents a core-activity to an organisation , however, is not always an easy task. Nor is the decision the same for all operations. The purpose of this study was to determine trends of outsourcing in star-rated hotels and identify factors that influence the selection of operations outsourced. The specific objectives were to identify the operations commonly outsourced by hotels, determine the factors that influence the decision to outsource sevices, investigate the effects of outsourcing on hotel operations and explore the challenges of outsourcing in hotels. A descriptive survey design was used to assess the factors that influence the selection of operations outsourced. All star-rated hotels in Nairobi were targeted. A stratified random sampling procedure was used to stratify the star-rated hotels into different categories. From the selected hotels, a number of departments were purposively sampled. This gave a total sample of 100 respondents. An interview schedule was used to solicit information from the general managers while a self- administered questionnaire was used to collect data from departmental managers. The data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative techinques. Data were presented using tables, graphs and charts. Qualitative data were analysed using narratives and presented in exploratory and discursive form. Chi-square was used to establish the relationship between the operations outsourced and the star-rating of hotels. The findings revealed that the concept of outsourcing was not foreign to hotels as most hotel managers had already embraced it. The most commonly outsourced operations were those that involved non-core activities or the-back-of-the-house activities and those that did not deal directly with the customers, such as maintenance and security. The major factors that influenced the decision to outsource were the need to; improve quality, gain flexibility, cut costs and hence improve profitability. Outsourcing was thus a welcome bussiness concept, but one which could only be undertaken strategically and with caution. The success of outsourcing depended a great deal on the ralationship between the hotelier and the supplier. The study recommended that managers need to determine core competencies that should be kept in-house rather than be outsourced. Outsourcing would be more beneficial if it was given a strategic approach that follows a rational process of decision-making. Hence, the need to align it to the overall cooperate strategy. Managers need to select and evaluate vendors carefully and specify the quality of services needed, in order to avoid disappointments. There should be a proper and well established working framework with policies that govern the whole process of outsourcing.
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    Determinants of Self-Esteem, Educational Performance and Career Prospects among Secondary School Students in Navakholo Constituency, Kakamega, Kenya
    (International Knowledge Sharing Platform, 2019) Wangia, Joyce; Waswa, Fuchaka; Waudo, Judith
    In the quest to identify challenges to students’ educational performance, cross-sectional study was carried out on 350 randomly selected students of St. Kizito and Sivilie secondary schools in Navakholo Constituency. A social survey design using closed and open-ended questionnaires was used to gather data, which was analysed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that students’ self-esteem is mainly negatively influenced by demeaning comments from both class teachers and parents. These negative pronouncements eventually lead to poor schooling outcomes and difficulties in making career choices. In particular, students appeared to avoid pursuing competitive courses and careers like engineering, medicine and law. Further, they indicated having had little information regarding career choices during their school years. This study recommends that evaluation of teachers and parents/guardians by students should be encouraged albeit confidentially so that appropriate counselling could be extended to these inter-related tripartite stakeholders in pursuit of better learning environment, educational outcomes and ultimately career choices.
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    Leveraging on Interactive Learning Pedagogy in Promoting School Readiness and Women Economic Engagement: Perspectives from the RCT Intervention Project in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya
    (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS), 2025-03-28) Ong’ang’a, Hudson Ouko; Waudo, Judith; Onywere, Simon; Mwoma, Teresa; Mwangi, Margaret; Onditi, James
    Women economic empowerment and school readiness of children cannot be distinctly separated. It is on this basis that Kenyatta University WEE in collaboration with other partners jointly are conducting an experiment on WEE and children’s holistic development including school readiness. The intervention experiment is conducted in Tharaka Nithi county to understand how early enrollment of 3-year-old children would promote children’s school readiness and enable their mothers to engage in income generating activities. This intervention is happening in 60 schools(treatment schools). A control group of 3-year old children from the catchment are also selected for comparison at the end of the intervention. Besides, the same number (5) of 4- year old pre-primary school one (PP1) were identified for the same reason. 4-year old children attend PP1 as per the government policy. The two categories will learn together using an enhanced curriculum, provided learning resources and use of interactive pedagogy. The children were enlisted during a baseline survey to identify families with eligible children for the experiment. Assessment of the children in terms of developmental milestones was done by the assessment team of psychologists using among others Debron-2 school-readiness kit. This paper presents some of the baseline results regarding the status of 4 and 3-year-old children’s school readiness skills. The findings allude to the differences in school readiness of the 3-year old children and the extent to which the can cope with schooling.