public transport savings and credit societies and livelihood development in urban areas, kenya

Abstract

Public transport in most of the urban areas globally has been viewed as basically a mode of transport aimed at facilitating movement from one area of the city to the other. Today however, the sector has embraced quite a number of stakeholders whose intention has been more than provision of transport in the city. Although many investors seem to be guided by the desire to improve livelihoods in the sector, little information exists on the actual direct contribution of the transport sector on the livelihood development of the stakeholders in the urban areas. The study sought to examine the influence of Public Transport on livelihood development with emphasis on Embassava Sacco in Nairobi Kenya. The study objectives were to: establish the employment opportunities created by public transport SACCOs to their members, assess public transport SACCOs influence on the standards of living of their members, explore its influence on entrepreneurial spirit among its members and evaluate influence of public transport on social welfare of its members. The study adopted descriptive research design where the target population was 1269, random sampling technique was applied and Yamane formula used to compute for the sample size which was 93. Data was coded and analyzed. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data which was presented in tables. The study found out that savings and credit societies have created employment opportunities especially for mothers and youth where 80% of respondents agreed with the statement, it was also found out that savings and credit societies had a significant impact on improving living standards of members where a computation of 3.7 was arrived at on the health and feeding pattern of members indicating over 50% of respondents agreed; the entrepreneurial spirit among members had been influenced by availability of financial resources, business incubation and SACCOs education where a computation of 3.9 was arrived at indicating over 50% of respondents agreed. The social welfare of members was influenced by the savings and credit societies which had a significant effect on the livelihood where by people’s associations and linkages improved this was proved by 60% of respondents who agreed with the statement. The study concludes that savings and credit societies have created jobs from managerial to casual positions, standards of living for members have improved to more savings and high access to more finances, entrepreneurial spirit had been enhanced as well as the social welfare .The study recommends that public transport SACCOs be strengthened to help solve unemployment problems, finances to be increased to members to support their livelihood, entrepreneurship be embraced through increased education or business incubation. The welfare meetings be emphasized to identify members’ issues like fear and social classification.