Socio-Cultural Factors Affecting Youth Empowerment in North Gem Ward, Siaya County

Youth empowerment programmes are implemented globally and by various agencies to help build the capacity of the youth so as to improve their well being.Young people the world over are calling for meaningful chances to participate meaningfully in civic, economic, social and political fields. The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP's) youth strategy identifies development challenges and issues facing youth today and more 'importantly offers forward looking recommendation for strategic entry points. This includes engagement of a broad range of partners in addressing youth empowerment issues around the world. Lack of clear policies and programmes for youth agenda also persists in Africa. In Kenya, for example, the National Youth Policy (2002) provides broad based strategies that can be used to give the youth meaningful opportunities to enable them reach their maximum potential. However, in the context of the devolved governance structures, there are many problems for youth to engage in meaningful participation in governance at county and local levels. Therefore, it is worth evaluating the socio-cultural factors affecting youth empowerment in North Gem ward as it is one of the wards with many non-governmental organizations in the study area and government agencies are also situated there yet there is minimal change in the lives of majority of youths because it is not known what factors leads to such scenario in North Gem. Therefore, understanding the social context under which these factors occur will be of value in providing a better understanding hence providing solutions to youths in North Gem ward. This study specifically, sought to: establish the effects of income on youth empowerment in NOIih Gem Ward; determine the effects of gender on youth empowerment in North Gem Ward; and find out the effects of youth perceptions on youth empowerment in North Gem Ward, Siaya County. The study was guided by social constructionist theory propounded by Bem and Coltrane (1985). The study adopted cross-sectional descriptive research design. The study population comprised all members of 12 youth groups and individuals that have benefited from Government and Non-Governmental Organizations in the Ward. Simple random sampling was used to select 202 respondents from the study population of 407 using a formula by Israel (1992). Purposive sampling was used to selectthe key informants and focus groups. Quantitative data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires and were analyzed using descriptive statistics by the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The quantitative data were presented in frequencies, percentages and tables. Qualitative data was analyzed through content and narrative analysis to identify emerging themes and concepts and presented using illustrations and verbatim quotations. The study found out that income, gender and attitude of the youth influenced the participation of the youth in youth empowerment initiatives. It furthermore revealed that majority of the young people were unable to access youth loans because they lacked collaterals to secure youth funds and also the youth unable to repay the loans awarded to them. The study therefore, recommends that the government should ensure that Youth Empowerment Programmes are established in the area and youths be able to access the Youth Enterprise Funds without or with minimal collateral for the loans and grants. Moreover, grass root youth empowerment programmes should target youth groups and the focus should be on elimination of the socio-cultural obstacles that ,affect youth empowerment.