FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC YOUTH LEADERSHIP

Abstract

In the globe, the youth constitute a large and rapidly growing proportion of the population. They can contribute in the development of a nation and Church. In Kenya, they participate in electing and campaigning for different leaders, do communal work such as cleaning the city, helping the aged, and community policing while in the Church, as Leorop (1992) contends the youth contribute towards Church growth through “seeking souls for Christ, making minor repairs in Church furniture, landscaping of the Church, cleaning the Church, singing in the Choir, and helping in the liturgy of the Church.” Due to what the youth can do in the society, efforts to develop strategic youth leaders have been attempted where parents take their children to school hoping their children will be well adjusted in life issues (Wachira, 2000). The Government of Kenya (GoK), on the other hand, initiates different youth programs to support youth welfare. An example is “Kazi Kwa Vijana” (KKV) program which was launched in 2009 to enhance youth employment. There is also the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) established in 2006 to enable the youth access finances for self-employment (GoK, 2010). Despite all the initiatives that are put in place to assist the youth, there exists a gap, where most of the youth appear not to have developed in strategic leadership. Strategic leaders have direction and inspiration necessary for creating and implementing desired objectives for sustainable growth (Lussier, 2010).This prompted this study whose purpose was to investigate factors affecting the development of strategic youth leadership, with view to determine the effect of parental guidance in developing strategic youth leadership in ACK Diocese of Kirinyaga, to find out the contribution of school education in the development of strategic youth leadership in ACK Diocese of Kirinyaga, to find out the contribution of youth peer pressure to development of strategic youth leadership in ACK Diocese of Kirinyaga, and finally, to determine to what extent media influence affects the development of strategic youth leadership in ACK Diocese of Kirinyaga. A case study was conducted in seven archdeaconries targeting 63 youth leaders. The research was conducted within a time-frame of three months. The researcher distributed 63 questionnaires to the youth and 55 were returned. The questionnaires contained both open ended and closed ended questions with an aim to obtain both descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that factors hindering the development of strategic youth leadership included inadequate parental guidance, weak education system, negative peers peer pressure, negative media influence, and lack of strategic skills. The study has contributed important knowledge in the field of research. Solutions to focus on improving parental guidance, reforming education system to incorporate strategic youth leadership education, finding ways of dealing with negative peer and media influence, and strengthening strategic youth leadership should be explored.