Influence of non-governmental organizations’ education interventions on community empowerment in nakuru county, kenya

Abstract

Non-governmental organizations are key development actors through various strategies. Education is one of the strategies and an integral part in realization of sustainable development goals. Education interventions include financial, basic needs, capacity development and character-building. However, there are challenges in terms of social economic development. Education as an empowerment tool is deemed effective through empowering both individuals and communities. However, success of education interventions has been measured using individual empowerment indicators, as a result, an empirical knowledge gap exists on their influence on community empowerment, a prerequisite for community development. The study sought to investigate the influence of non-governmental organizations education interventions on community empowerment in Nakuru County. This study was guided by Social Capital Theory, Empowerment Theory and General Systems Theory. The study adopted correlational research design and an ex-post facto research design. Stratified random samplings, simple random sampling and purposive sampling were used in the study. Thirteen social workers one from each selected organizations and 101 beneficiaries were involved in the study. Data was collected using questionnaires. Reliability of the research instruments was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient formulae and was found to be 0.792 for the beneficiaries and 0.846 for the social workers. The research instruments attained a reliability coefficient above the required threshold of 0.70 for social sciences, thus acceptable. The data obtained through this study was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (linear and multiple regression). Factor analysis was used to create factor scores for inferential analysis. The study results indicate the influence of education interventions at 95% confidence level were as follows: financial interventions, R2 = . 065, F (1, 99) = 6.855, p = .010; basic needs interventions, R2 = . 068, F (1, 99) = 7.207, p = .009; capacity development interventions, R2 = . 051, F (1, 99) = 5.315, p = .023; character-building interventions, R2 = . 052, F (1, 99) = 17.749, p = 0.000. The combined influence of education interventions was also significant at 95% confidence level, R2 =.219, F (4, 96) = 6.740, p = 0.000. The study concluded that non-governmental organizations’ education interventions; financial, basic needs, capacity development and character-building had statistically significant influence on community empowerment. The study recommends adoption of the education for community empowerment model developed through this research for non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders supporting education as a strategy for sustainable community development