Socio-economic empowerment of communities by grassroots organizations: the case of the harambee self help groups in Kenya

This paper contributes to the discourse on grassroots organizations by providing details of research on traditional Harambee Self Help Groups (SHG) in Kenya in the light of social enterprise and third sector discourses. Data for this study were provided by the provincial administration of Riruta Location in Nairobi, Kenya. The location archives were comprised of self-help group registration forms, constitutions, details of dispute processes, correspondence, proposals and minutes. The study found that increases in SHG resource mobilization activities, organizational meetings, governmental recognition (registration), membership and village outreach had a significant positive influence on the number of economic empowerment activities. Decreases in networking and increases in challenges faced by the SHGs had a negative influence on their activity. This study attempts to equate the Harambee SHGs with social enterprises, studies their entrepreneurial dynamic within the Kenyan third sector and examines their historical and current contribution to the country

Induction of humoral immune response to multiple recombinant Rhipicephalus appendiculatus antigens and their effect on tick feeding success and pathogen transmission

BACKGROUND: Rhipicephalus appendiculatus is the primary vector of Theileria parva, the etiological agent of East Coast fever (ECF), a devastating disease of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa. We hypothesized that a vaccine targeting tick proteins that are involved in attachment and feeding might affect feeding success and possibly reduce tick-borne transmission of T. parva. Here we report the evaluation of a multivalent vaccine cocktail of tick antigens for their ability to reduce R. appendiculatus feeding success and possibly reduce tick-transmission of T. parva in a natural host-tick-parasite challenge model. METHODS: Cattle were inoculated with a multivalent antigen cocktail containing recombinant tick protective antigen subolesin as well as two additional R. appendiculatus saliva antigens: the cement protein TRP64, and three different histamine binding proteins. The cocktail also contained the T. parva sporozoite antigen p67C. The effect of vaccination on the feeding success of nymphal and adult R. appendiculatus ticks was evaluated together with the effect on transmission of T. parva using a tick challenge model. RESULTS: To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of the anti-tick effects of these antigens in the natural host-tick-parasite combination. In spite of evidence of strong immune responses to all of the antigens in the cocktail, vaccination with this combination of tick and parasite antigens did not appear to effect tick feeding success or reduce transmission of T. parva. CONCLUSION: The results of this study highlight the importance of early evaluation of anti-tick vaccine candidates in biologically relevant challenge systems using the natural tick-host-parasite combination

The local Development dynamics of the third sector in Kenya: the Empowerment Dimension

This dissertation contributes to the local development discourse by presenting a third sector perspective from the Sub Saharan Africa. The study examines the third sector in Kenya using a seven point criteria constructed from various schools of thought. The criteria is made of aspects such as organization, autonomy, profit distribution, governance, degree of voluntarism, contribution to social inclusion and extent of entrepreneurial dynamism. It studies selected third sector organizations that include cooperatives, faith based organizations, non-governmental organizations, micro-finance institutions and self-help groups. The study uses these organizations to understand the contribution of the sector in solving social problems. The study uses different sets of designs, methodologies and data for each of the sections on the third sector actors. In some cases, data are drawn from Kenya Bureau of Statistics, government ministries, UN bodies, the Central Bank of Kenya, and both Kenyan and international public data domains. The section on self-help groups that has been used for empirical analysis uses two sets of data: one from the administrative offices of Riruta Location made of 523 observations and another collected by the researcher from a sample of 122 self-help groups. The former tests success self-rating determinants while the latter tests economic empowerment effects. The study also applies case studies in order to corroborate empirical and statistical findings. A number of findings emanate from the study. First, the traditional cultural way of life and the cooperative activities amongst different ethnic communities provided important initial conditions for the build-up of the third sector in Kenya. Second, the colonial administration played a role in the formation of the modern third sector through their policy on community development and other policies that encouraged cooperation between government and third sector actors in service delivery. Third, in post-independence Kenya, the Harambee concept gave the sector an indigenous image anchored in community dimension, mutual and self-help emphasis. Fourth, the growth of some aspects of this sector suffered as a result of excessive government control between independence to the 2000s. Fifth, World Bank induced changes that swept across Africa in the 1980’s to 2000’s had both positive and negative influence on the sector. Last but not least, the coming to power of a new government in 2002 brought about an increase in the number of civil society actors. The third sector in Kenya helps to fill welfare gaps as a result of minimal, absent or shrinking public service spending. Although the term “third sector” is not commonly used in Kenya, its multiple actors contribute in the promotion of social inclusion of marginalized persons and regions. It helps to empower individuals economically, enhancing civic participation, infrastructure building and social welfare provision. Before 1980s the government controlled the sector closely, in the 1990s however it became more autonomous. The sector is also characterized by an explicit pursuance of a social mission, limited profit distribution and a resource mix approach. Though the policies of most of the sectors actors are quite enabling, the policies governing some of the actors are not conducive. This study is unique in two distinct ways. First, unlike earlier studies which were particularly actor-specific, the study offers a systematic approach to the discourse on the third sector in Kenya with respect to local development. Previous studies looked at the civil societies, non-profit organizations and other individual third sector actors separately. The holistic and systematic approach of this study demonstrates the collective contribution of the third sector in enhancing social welfare and development of the local communities. Secondly, it has explored the challenges faced by the sector which must be redressed in order to sustain its vibrancy. The study did suffer from lack of quality data. However, triangulation was used to ensure that much is learnt from the available data and to overcome any ensuing analytical limitations

Factors Influencing the Effective Implementation of Micro-Finance Schemes in Kenya

A Project Report by Ochanda Richard M., Submitted to the School of Business, USIU-A in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Science in Management and Organization Developmen

Factors Influencing the Establishment of Micro-finance Schemes in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to determine the major factors that influence the establishment and sustainability of micro finance schemes in Kenya. The study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What policies regulate micro finance Schemes in Kenya? (2) What are the major implementation issues affecting micro finance schemes in Kenya? (3) What are the major factors affecting the sustainability of micro finance schemes in Kenya? Primary data were collected from thirty micro-finance institutions in Nairobi, Kenya. The institutions included Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT), Faulu Kenya, Pride-Africa and Kenya Rural Enterprise Program (K-REP) among others. Structured questionnaires were administered to the managers and the program administrators in these institutions. The findings of this study revealed that there were no clear policies regulating micro finance institutions (MFIs) in Kenya. The findings indicated that most micro finance institutions were registered under different Acts of Parliament. The findings also revealed that some of the MFIs had more than one registration while others had not been registered at all. On implementation issues, the results indicated that the most commonly implemented MFI design was the solidarity group. However, few MFIs were extending loans to individuals. Most MFIs were taking deposits to cushion the risks associated with non-repayment of loans. With regard to sustainability, the study revealed that there were a few MFIs which had attained financial sustainability as a result of their sound financial cost control and provision of quality portfolios. However, a number of MFIs had not attained financial sustainability and were relying on subsidies from donor

Effectiveness of Street Youth Integration in East Africa (English version)

Youth unemployment in Africa challenges governments and development partners alike. This problem is hard to tackle because of the lack of reliable data and related analysis on scale, distribution and complexity of employment, unemployment and livelihood situation as well as effective policies, programmes and approaches for young women and men. Vulnerable groups of youth such as those on the Streets are worst hit by this problem. This study examines the effectiveness of East African institutions in intervening to assist street youth get integrated into the society through acquisition of adequate employment skills or entrepreneurial skills. The study uses a set of data collected by Koinonia Advisory Research and Development Service (KARDS), a community development consultancy in Nairobi, Kenya. The data was collected in 2007 and in 2010. This data is based on the work-activities of street children projects in Nairobi for 122 street children institutions. It was found out that most institutions disengage the children once they become young adults, leaving them to find jobs and to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, by the time the former street youth are disengaged from institutional benefits they may not have adequate skills for competitiveness in the job markets. This fact underscores the fact that the rehabilitation programmes have less abilities toimpart adequate community and societal integration skills to the former street youth. There is therefore a need to develop other interventions such as work integration social enterprises (WISE) that would assist the young adults to become independent while helping them deal with barriers inhibiting their competitiveness, ability to get employed, become entrepreneurial and ultimately be able to reintegrate effectively back into the society.Street Youth, Integration, Reintegration, WISE

Screening for Theileria parva secretory gene products by functional analysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Molecules located on cell surfaces and those that are secreted from the cell frequently play a critical role in cell biology by mediating interaction with the external environment. These types of parasite molecules often constitute targets for protective host immune responses and are thus of additional interest as candidate vaccine antigens. Targeting of proteins to an extra-cellular environment usually involves trafficking through components of the secretory pathway. Most proteins access this pathway via insertion into or translocation across the endoplasmic reticulum, a process dependent on a signal sequence at or close to the N-terminus that exhibits conserved features across a wide range of eukaryotic organisms, although the signals are degenerate in amino acid sequence (1-3). The secretory signal sequences of proteins from different organisms are functionally interchangeable, highlighting the conserved nature of the secretory apparatus (4). These observations led to the development of a 'signal sequence trap' (SST) methodology to identify secretory molecules by expression screens in a heterologous system (5). Export of a few eukaryotic proteins occurs by a different mechanism (1) and these exceptions to the general rule would not be expected to function in the SST system. The original SST method used a COS cell expression cloning system and depends on complementation of a deleted signal sequence on a gene encoding the chain of human interleukin-2 receptor (5). This system is dependent on successive rounds of enrichment of plasmid recovered from transfected cells and has been used to identify many novel higher eukaryotic secretory proteins (5,6) including secreted proteins from the salivary glands of Anopheles gambiae (7). A simplified SST method has been described that exploits the requirement of a secreted enzyme in permitting growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae when sucrose is the sole carbon source (8,9). The yeast SST system has identified previously characterised human proteins containing a cleaved or non-cleaved secretory signal sequence and proteins that are targeted to intracellular organelles (9), indicating flexibility of the method and predicting identification of a wide repertoire of secretory proteins. It has also been used to identify secretory proteins of Drosophila (10) and Arabidopsis (11). In this report we examine the suitability of one of two yeast SSt system (8,9) for the identification of secretory proteins from Theileria parva, an intracellular protozoan pathogen that usually causes a lethal disease in cattle known as East Coast fever (ECF) (12)