Faith based organizations' poverty reduction initiatives on pastoral livelihood development in Marsabit County, Kenya

Abstract

Various development agencies have applied numerous poverty reduction initiatives to enhance the livelihood of pastoral communities in Marsabit County. However, poverty remains a challenge for the pastoralists. The poverty level is at 83.2% and it is ranked at number 44 out 47 counties in Kenya. This study sought to assess FBOs’ poverty reduction initiatives to ascertain to what extent they enhance the livelihood of the pastoral communities and whether there are areas that require improvement for enhancing future interventions. The research objectives were: to assess water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiative, examine the savings and lending schemes initiative and evaluate access to education initiative on pastoral livelihood development. The key theory was the social exclusion theory of poverty. The study was carried out in Saku Sub County, Marsabit County. The sequential explanatory mixed methods design was applied on a target population of 2004 and a sample size of 323 was selected. Respondents were selected through the stratified sampling and simple random sampling technique. Household heads’ data was collected through closed ended questions. Two focus group discussions and 4 staff members from the FBOs were interviewed. The study applied the Likert scale to analyze quantitative data. The responses were defined using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage modes. Whereas the qualitative data used textual analysis to generate themes based on the objectives of the study. The study findings indicate the WASH initiative enhanced the livelihood of most of the target population, the lending and savings scheme enhanced the livelihood of few of the target population and the access to education enhanced the livelihood of a substantial number of the target population. The study concluded that the FBOs’ poverty reduction initiatives enhanced the livelihoods of the targeted beneficiaries. The study recommends a concerted effort of the national government, county government, NGOs, CBOs to partner with the FBOs in order to enhance the pastoral livelihood development. Various stakeholders and more specifically FBOs in Marsabit County will benefit through knowledge and information that will aid in improving current initiatives as well as in initiating new and more influential approaches to pastoral projects and activities.