An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Street Vendors Associations among Women Street Vendors in the Central Business District, Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2024-11
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
The search for employment opportunities in urban centers has led to the rise of the informal sector which comprises of street vendors with a large proportion being women. Women street vendors have formed or joined street vendors association to help them navigate street vending. This study was occasioned by the disparity gaps between allied associations supporting the rights of stre`et ven`dors to oper`ate in pub`lic spa`ces, the membership of street vendors into street vending associations and street vendors being incorporated in urban planning. The study assessed the effectiveness of street vendors associations among women street vendors in N`airobi C`ity County basing on the following obje`ctives; to examine fac`tors influ`encing mem`bership in street vendors associations, to assess the functions of street vendors associations, to evaluate the benefits and the challenges of street vendors associations. The study ado`pted descri`ptive sur`vey desi`gn to coll`ect qualitative and quantitative data using questionnaires, interviews and content analysis from published materials, journals, and magazines. Snowball samp`ling was used in selecting women street vendors from the streets creating a sample frame of 204 vendors for the research. Quantitative data was filtered, coded, and anal`yzed usi`ng the Social Sciences Statis`tical Pac`kage (SPSS) while qualitative data was analyzed using verbatim quotes. The standard deviation and computation averages were performed to show the rankings for benefits and challenges of women street vending associations while the Likert scale was used to determ`ine the future of wo`men stre`et ven`dors in Nairobi Central Business District (CBD). A chi-squ`are test was performed to show the relation`ship bet`ween benefits accrued from street vendor associations and membership and challenges faced in str`eet vend`ors associations and membership. Fin`dings of the computation averages showed that leadership opportunity was the highly ranked benefit (mean=0.913). while poor leadership was the most highly ranked challenge in street vendors associations (mean=1.651). The findings of the chi-square revealed that all benefits of street vendor associations influenced membership as their p-values were less than 0.05; Leadership opportunity (p=0.000), Welfare and access to credit (P=0.002), training in business (P=0.001) and networking (P=0.003). Challenges such as poor leadership (P=0.001), wrangles within street vendors association (P=0.001) and unfavorable working conditions (P=0.03) were found to influence membership in street vendor associations. Lack of childcare services (p=0.061) was the only challenge which insignificantly influenced membership The study concludes that street vendors associations among women street vendors in Nairobi city county have been very effective as a in creating synergy that is greater than individual effects of each member, they have also been a platform where members can get briefs on important issues such as new legislative rulings, and market trends. The study recommends associations leaders to acquire leadership and management skills to enable them fully carry out their mandate.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Geography, Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Law, Arts and Social Sciences, Kenyatta University November, 2024
Supervisors:
1. Philomena Muiruri
2.Thomas N. Kibutu