The impact of community support grants on ECD Centre’s: a case of Kamariny division, Keiyo district Kenya

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of Community Support Grants on ECD Centres in Kamariny Division, Keiyo District Kenya. In order to realize the intention of this study, five specific research objectives were addressed: to find out the types of grants received by the ECD centres in Kamariny Division, to identify the main ECD projects for which CSG grants are given in Kamariny Division,to determine the frequency with which the CSG grants are received by ECD Centres, to explore the availability of CSG grants of the identified ECD projects and to assess the influence on enrolment in those ECD Centres that received the CSG, .The study adopted descriptive survey whereby stratified random, purposive and simple random samplings were used to sample the respondents. Stratified random was used to sample the 5 ECD centres; Simple random sampling was used to select all respondents from the schools while purposive sampling was used for the DICECE staff. The research tools for the study included questionnaire, interview schedule, observation check lists and focus group discussions. Descriptive statistics, frequency tables, bar graphs and percentages were used to present the data. The study established four main sources of grants namely: Loipi ECDE centres community support, World Bank, Islamic Integrated Education Programme and personal donation. Majority of the participants identified community support as the main source of grants. Physical facilities were the main ECD projects for which CSG grants are given. The responses further indicated that majority of the ECD centres received the CSG grants annually. The study further identified ECD projects was dependent on the availability of CSG grants. The study established that the mean difference in the boy‟s and girl‟s enrolment in the years 2007 and 2009 was highly significant. Most participants identified five key challenges; poor accountability was rated the main challenge followed by inadequate funds; incompetent centre management committees; laxity in performing tasks and frequent transfers of trained personnel in that order. The study concluded that due to the availability of CSG grants; Kamariny Division has made great strides in resolving critical concerns in the ECD schools. At the same time, this has seen an improvement in enrolment of children in the schools. The findings of this study will add more value to academic data. The Ministry of Education and the Department of Early Childhood Development Education, in particular, will benefit from the findings of this study in order to come up with policy recommendation to safeguards the rights and welfare of children from early childhood to adolescence. Finally, the research revealed areas which need further research for example, the challenges faced by DICECE officers in implementing the CSG program