Implementation of arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL) policy and drought resilience in Wajir County, Kenya
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Date
2024-03
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Despite numerous studies on the drought situation in Kenya, the effects of the implementation of the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) policy on drought resilience are yet to be established. Drought management programs in Wajir County under the ASAL Policy are being implemented to end drought emergencies and enhance household resilience capacities. The study sought to investigate the effectiveness of the implementation of the ASAL policy on drought resilience in Wajir County. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine the effectiveness of financial allocation on drought resilience in Wajir County; to assess the effectiveness of the stakeholder engagement on drought resilience in Wajir County; and to investigate the effectiveness of mitigation measures on drought resilience in Wajir County. The study adopted a descriptive research design. It sampled 398 respondents drawn from a population of 127932 households in Wajir County. In addition, 20 key informants within the Wajir population were also purposively sampled. The KIIs included the project officers and directors in charge of drought management interventions, county disaster management committees, and program officers of leading NGOs undertaking drought resilience programs. Participants were given a standardized survey instrument in the form of a questionnaire. The gathered data was cleaned, sorted, and corrected to get rid of duplicates and outliers. After the dust settled, descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated using SPSS Ver.28 and displayed in the usual forms (frequency and percentage distributions, means, and standard deviations). This researcher's exclusive focus was on academics; as such, they must act with the utmost professionalism and be mindful of the ethical concerns stated above. The study's limitations included challenges in accessing some of the targeted study participants. Moreover, some participants claimed to be too busy to fill out the questionnaires or attend the interviews, while others had busy working schedules during the data collection process. The insights of the Wajir people on the impact of drought management reflected the progress made in Drought Response Plans (DRP) and the effect on their livelihood. Hence, by carrying out this study, it is possible to determine the policy capacity of county Governments to successfully implement their various DRPs meant to cultivate drought resilience practices among communities in the county. The study established a coefficient of determination (R squared) of 0.626, implying that the combination of financial allocation, stakeholder engagement, and mitigation measures implementation accounts for 62.6% of the variation in drought resilience in Wajir County, Kenya. The adjusted R-squared of 0.614 further indicated that, in the exclusion of the constant variable, financial allocation, stakeholder engagement and mitigation measures implementation jointly explained 61.4% of the variation in drought resilience. The study also found a significant and positive relationship between financial allocation and drought resilience (β = 0.221, p = 0.005 < 0.05), the results showed that there existed a positive but statistically insignificant relationship between stakeholder engagement and drought resilience (β = 0.103, p = 0.244 > 0.05). Finally, the study found a significant and strong positive relationship between mitigation measures implementation and drought resilience (β = 0.483, p = 0.000 < 0.05). On the basis of the findings, the study concludes that the perceived inadequacy of funds directly affects the county's ability to enact critical drought resilience activities such as the development of water infrastructure, livestock programs, and community-based initiatives. The study also concludes that stakeholder engagement does exist in Wajir county, but is significantly skewed towards governmental bodies. The study thus recommends that the county government of Wajir should seek additional funding avenues, which should include grants, public-private partnerships, or aid from international organizations.
Description
A research project submitted to the school of law, arts and social sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of masters of arts in public policy and administration of Kenyatta university, March 2024
Supervisors: Muna Wilson