Household Heads Characteristics and Access to Water, Energy and Housing in Kenya
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Omondi, Beatrice Anyango
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
individual is considered a priority aspiration especially in developing nations. Kenya has not
been left behind in this and has envisioned a universal access to the three at an affordable rate
by 2030. The country is however constrained to this attainment with challenges including
resource gap, over reliance on donor contributions, high poverty incidence and fragmented
policy frameworks among others. Water, energy and housing pose numerous benefits to
human beings directly and indirectly and are at the center of improving human well-being
and quality of life. Kenya has therefore taken numerous steps in ensuring that all households
have universal access to water, energy and housing by 2030. However, the country may not
achieve this by 2030 due to documented challenges related to implementation of objectives
including inadequate data on the key indicators to allow for better policy formulation. There
is need for alternative channels to achieve universal access to clean water, clean energy and
affordable decent housing by 2030 in Kenya and this study is an effort towards this strand of
thinking. The study aimed at finding out the effect of household head characteristic on access
to water, access to energy and access to housing. Random utility framework was adopted. To
achieve the study objectives, multinomial logistic regression modeling and logistic regression
modeling was employed. The 2015/2016 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey data
was used. This set of cross-sectional data was collected over a twelve-month period and
disaggregated data by county and at national level. Arising from the study findings, an
increase in income proxied by change from semi-permanent to permanent dwelling structure
by household head led to an increase in household’s access to clean water and clean energy
by 19.41 and 10.07 percent respectively. Age of the household head was found to be
insignificant in access to clean water and clean energy. An increase in the age of household
head however increased the likelihood of residing in a permanent dwelling by 0.89 percent
with a nonlinear relationship. Increase in education of household head from no education to
primary education through to tertiary education increased the probability of household head
selecting clean water source, clean energy source and decent housing. Being employed
increased the likelihood of using clean water and clean energy by 4.09 percent and 2.07
percent respectively. Employment status of the household head was however found not to
influence type of dwelling structure. Being male increased the probability of using clean
water and clean energy by 1.99 percent and 26.11percent respectively. Residing in the rural
area by a household head reduced their probability of using clean water and energy by 20.39
percent and 20.56 percent respectively. Area of residence was however found not to influence
the type of dwelling unit. Based on the study findings, the study suggests that there is need to
develop policy around the key and significant household head characteristics which includes
empowerment of household head, creation of awareness and training, gender issue, and
working on key infrastructural systems in urban settings would greatly improve access to
clean water, clean energy and decent housing in Kenya.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the Department of Economic Theory in the School of
Economics in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Master of
Economics Degree in Kenyatta University
Keywords
Household Heads, Characteristics, Access, Water, Energy, Housing, Kenya