Rural community access to information in implementation of national land use policies in the North Rift Region of Kenya

Abstract

Rural community participation has not been clearly placed in land use policy implementation in Kenya. There has been limited access to land information and data by ordinary people at the rural level. This study examined rural community access to information on land use policies in the North Rift Region in Kenya. The study was guided by bottom-up approaches to policy implementation and Communicative Action Theory. The study adopted a comparative case study and embedded mixed-method research designs, and adopted a pragmatic research paradigm. The study was conducted in Sekerr Ward in West Pokot County, Sitatunga Ward in Tranzoia County and Ziwa Ward in Uasin Gishu County. The three wards were chosen purposively because they had similar characteristics in terms of climatic conditions, land tenure, agricultural activities and rural location. The target population were the local bureaucrats, legislators, ordinary citizens and non-state actors. A sample size of 417 was arrived at from the target population of 40666 using the Roasoft sample size calculator and Greg Depersio's (2024) formula. Questionnaires and interview schedules were employed to collect data. The study used percentages to analyse quantitative data, while qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. It was found out that respondents from Sekerr Ward (33.3%), Ziwa Ward (32.4%) and Sitatunga Ward (34.7%) indicated that decentralisation of the land use management system and information improves access to land use information by land owners or users. The study concludes that access to information by the rural community in the implementation of land use policies is still an ongoing processes that require improvement, and there is no clear mechanism for passing information from the offices to the local level and from the bottom to the top. The study recommends that there should be clear procedures on how stakeholders receive information and give feedback at the same time. The study suggests further studies on the involvement of urban residents in the implementation of land use policies.