https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/9 2022-10-31T03:46:10Z 2022-10-31T03:46:10Z Fisher, Monica Nyabaro, Violet Mendum, Ruth Osiru, Moses https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3871 2022-10-12T17:08:19Z 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Making it to the PhD: Gender and student performance in sub-Saharan Africa Fisher, Monica; Nyabaro, Violet; Mendum, Ruth; Osiru, Moses Women’s underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) impedes progress in solving Africa’s complex development problems. As in other regions, women’s participation in STEM drops progressively moving up the education and career ladder, with women currently constituting 30% of Africa’s STEM researchers. This study elucidates gender-based differences in PhD performance using new survey data from 227 alumni of STEM PhD programs in 17 African countries. We find that, compared to their male counterparts, sampled women had about one less paper accepted for publication during their doctoral studies and took about half a year longer to finish their PhD training. Negative binomial regression models provide insights on the observed differences in women’s and men’s PhD performance. Results indicate that the correlates of publication productivity and time to PhD completion are very similar for women and men, but some gender-based differences are observed. For publication output, we find that good supervision had a stronger impact for men than women; and getting married during the PhD reduced women’s publication productivity but increased that of men. Becoming a parent during the PhD training was a key reason that women took longer to complete the PhD, according to our results. Findings suggest that having a female supervisor, attending an institution with gender policies in place, and pursuing the PhD in a department where sexual harassment by faculty was perceived as uncommon were enabling factors for women’s timely completion of their doctoral studies. Two priority interventions emerge from this study: (1) family-friendly policies and facilities that are supportive of women’s roles as wives and mothers and (2) fostering broader linkages and networks for women in STEM, including ensuring mentoring and supervisory support that is tailored to their specific needs and circumstances.

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z Laichena, Joshua https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3870 2022-10-12T17:08:12Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Does adoption of on-farm tree planting depend on Forest co-management? Evidence from selected Forest sites in Kenya Laichena, Joshua Kenya’s forest sector operated without a formal forest policy until 1957 when White Paper No. 85 of 1957 was published, and which outlined ten principles on forest management: Reservation; protection; management; industry; finance; employment; African areas; private forests and other forests not under the State ownership; public amenity, and; wildlife research and education. The first principle was restated as a policy in 1968 through Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1968 and adopted as the Forest Act (Cap. 385). This Act provided for development of the Kenya Forestry Master Plan and establishment control and regulation of central forests and forest areas in Nairobi and on unalienated government land under the Forests Department. Under this governance regime, access to State forests was tightly controlled by forest guards who ensured continued forest health through exclusion, and only activities approved by the Forest Department were carried out. Forest neighbouring communities and other stakeholders remained mere spectators in forest management. Nonetheless, in the 1970s and 1980s, Kenya was rated highly in plantation development alongside countries such as Chile

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Muma, Mathew Martin, Robert Shelley, Mack https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3869 2022-10-12T17:08:10Z 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Teacher Beliefs About Sustainable Agriculture: A Self-made Measurement Scale Muma, Mathew; Martin, Robert; Shelley, Mack The study‟s purpose was to analyze the validity of the construct of a self-made Alternative-Conventional Agricultural Paradigm scale using the teacher population teaching high school agriculture in the North Central Region of the USA. A random sample of 844 teachers was drawn. Teachers were self-administered questionnaires with 5-point Likert-type scales. Instrument inter-item consistency and item coherence were determined. The relatively high coefficient alpha (.82), mean item total correlation (.40), and unrotated first factors with modest number of items loading on the factor means that the scale has mainly one underlying construct. The teacher population holds consistent views and attitudes about SA constituting an agricultural paradigm. The instrument items are coherent as components of a whole and are related. However, the teacher population did not hold stronger paradigmatic views on the scale as can be expected because of their relatively low mean score item-total correlation and coefficient alpha for the instrument compared to what was found for the scale in the Beus and Dunlap (1991) study. This should be expected because agriculture teachers are not strong adherents of the two agricultural paradigms who can be expected to make extreme and polar scores on the scale. The instrument can therefore be used to preliminarily gauge the paradigmatic orientation of agriculture teachers in the region. Further research with the instrument with known groups supporting the two paradigms is necessary to establish its validity

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3868 2022-10-12T17:06:21Z 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z

Special Paper No. 33 of 2022 on Sustaining Momentum for Achieving the Kenya Vision 2030: A Review of the Status of Implementation of the Flagship Projects Kenya attained relatively higher growth rates during the Medium-Term Plan (MTP) II than during the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERS-WEC) and MTP I phases. Economic growth averaged 5.5 per cent during the MTP II phase compared to an average of 5 per cent and 4 per cent attained during the ERS-WEC and MTP I period. The improvement in growth rates between MTP I and MTP II led to tripling of per capita income during the same period. However, it is noteworthy that the country did not meet the growth targets under MTP I and MTP II. Consequently, there was a significant drop in poverty rates during MTP I and MTP II periods. Economic growth rate translated to poverty reduction, though at a relatively slower pace. According to the KIHBS of 2005/06 and KIHBS 2015/16, poverty rate dropped from 46.6 per cent in 2005/06 to 36.1 per cent in 2015/16. This implies that poverty dropped by an average of 1.1 percentage points per year between 2005/06 and 2015/16. However, during the same period, the country attained an average growth of 5.0 per cent. Therefore, the rate of economic growth was relatively faster than poverty reduction pace. The global financial crisis and a number of security challenges affected the country’s attainment of savings and investment targets. Actual savings and investment as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) averaged 12.1 per cent, respectively, during the MTP I against average targets of 21.6 per cent and 27.4 per cent of GDP, respectively. During the MTP II, actual savings and investment improved to an average of 14.6 per cent and 20.0 per cent of GDP, respectively, against average targets of 18.0 per cent and 25.0 per cent of GDP, respectively. The savingsinvestment gap as a percentage of GDP narrowed from 8.0 per cent during MTP I to 5.5 per cent during MTP II.

2022-01-01T00:00:00Z Kinyua, Beatrice Mwiti, Miriam https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3867 2022-10-12T17:06:17Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Discussion Paper No. 271 of 2021 on The Nexus Between Innovation Gap and Firm Ownership in Kenya: A Gender Approach Kinyua, Beatrice; Mwiti, Miriam This paper sought to explore the gender gap in innovation among firms in Kenya. The study’s objective was to determine the extent of the gender innovation gap for male-owned and female-owned firms, and the factors contributing to this gap. Subsequently, the study incorporated the Blinder Oaxaca decomposition technique adopting the extended non-linear regression version by Fairlie. Cross-sectional data used was sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Survey 2018. The findings highlighted that the probability of female owned-firms to innovate was lower than that of male-owned firms, an indication that there was an innovation gap. Further, it was established that male-owned enterprises had better innovation outcomes as they possessed resources that femaleowned firms did not have. These resources include hiring of an experienced top manager who may require large compensation, thus hindering female-owned firms from recruiting due to the associated financial resource constraints. Additionally, there were unobservable factors that formed a larger portion of the innovation gap, indicating that there were structural biases that favoured male-owned firms to be innovative over female-owned firms. These structural biases are often associated with discrimination. These findings therefore shed light on gender inequalities that exist in the context of innovation. There is need for policy makers to promote gender equality by advocating and formulating policies that address structural biases, thus creating a level playing field in terms of promoting impartiality in innovation among male-owned and female-owned firms in Kenya. Reducing the unobservable structural biases that accounted for a higher share in gender innovation gap would significantly reduce the innovation gap in Kenya.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Naeku, Cecilia Juma, Kenneth https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3866 2022-10-12T17:05:55Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Discussion Paper No. 270 of 2021 on The Effect of E-Government on Government Effectiveness and Control of Corruption among UN Member Countries Naeku, Cecilia; Juma, Kenneth E-government has been implemented by various countries with the aim to improve public sector efficiency through better service delivery, increased accountability and improved interaction between the government, citizens and businesses. E-participation increases the scope of e-government to include information sharing, collaborative decision-making and participatory service delivery. Both e-government and e-participation have numerous benefits, among them the potential to improve public services and control corruption. This is particularly important given that corruption is one of the most persistent and prevalent challenges to socio-economic development and quality public service. This study sought to assess the status of e-government and e-participation in Kenya and compare it with aspirator countries to identify areas of weakness, opportunities and lessons. It also determined the effect of e-government on control of corruption among high income countries, upper middle-income countries and lower middle-income countries. The results show that Kenya’s score on the telecommunication infrastructure index was the lowest when compared to aspirator countries. The study suggested areas that Kenya could learn on e-government and e-participation in aspirator countries. Particularly, the possibility of exploring context-specific e-government initiatives such as SMS-based e-participation and mobile-based e-services was elucidated. E-government development index and E-participation index were found to have positive effects on government effectiveness and control of corruption among the three categories of countries. However, the effects were significant for highincome countries and upper middle-income countries that had higher average scores for the components of e-government development index. Therefore, lower-middle income countries such as Kenya need to continue investing on e-government and e-participation to increase their government effectiveness and control of corruption.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Mbaka, Charity Njogu, Humphrey https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3865 2022-10-12T17:06:14Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Discussion Paper No. 269 of 2021 on Analysis of the Housing Status and Access to Basic Infrastructure in Nairobi City County: Disparities and Level of Deprivation Mbaka, Charity; Njogu, Humphrey Access to basic infrastructure is a key constituent and a prerequisite for affordable housing. Nairobi City County accounts for the highest affordable housing deficit in the country, with roughly 60 per cent of residents living in informal settlements. Therefore, an in-depth empirical analysis of the current housing status at a disaggregated level is key for targeted affordable housing policy interventions. This study analyzed intra-county disparities in housing conditions and access to basic infrastructure and designed a Multidimensional Housing Deprivation Index (MHDI) to serve as a policy-prescriptive tool in addressing housing deprivation in all its dimensions. MHDI framework involved defining dimensions, indicators, deprivation cutoffs and weights. The analysis involved computation of the housing deprivation incidence, intensity, and decomposition of MHDI by sub-groups. The results indicate that there is distinctive intra-county disparities and pockets of deprivation in access to basic infrastructure and housing conditions. The sub-counties dominated by informal settlements recorded higher levels of deprivation. MHDI score (0.195) indicates that 19.5 per cent of households are multidimensional housing deprived in at least 33.0 per cent of the weighted indicators. The incidence (0.407) of housing deprivation indicates that 40.7 per cent of households are multidimensional deprived, suggesting that 4 out of 10 households were deprived. Further Intensity (0.48) showed that, on average, multidimensional deprived households were deprived in 48 per cent of weighted indicators. The indicators that contribute highest to MHDI includes cooking fuel (26.7%), internet (18.8%), garbage collection (18.7%), and handwashing facility (12.2%). The study recommends a multisectoral approach in planning and developing affordable housing projects to ensure seamless execution of the plans. In addition, Nairobi County Development Plans should allocate adequate resources and identify appropriate strategies to reduce deprivation, with more emphasis on indicators contributing the most to MHDI.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Kihiu, Evelyne https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3864 2022-10-12T17:05:51Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Discussion Paper No. 267 of 2021 on Gender, Access to Agricultural Resources and Food Security in Kenya Kihiu, Evelyne Food insecurity is a major development challenge in developing countries. In Kenya, the food poverty incidence remains high, as about 1 in every 3 individuals does not meet the minimum daily calorific requirement. Research points to possible gender-linked pathways through which agriculture influences food security in households. Gender considerations are especially important in the African context where there are broad divisions in the responsibilities between men and women and how they use their personal income in line with traditional cultures. To evaluate this pathway in the Kenyan context, we explore how women’s empowerment in agriculture compares to that of men, and its effects on household’s food security outcomes, measured using household’s food consumption scores. We find that approximately 28 per cent of households in Kenya are food insecure. We further show that women in agriculture are more disempowered relative to men. Women are mainly disempowered in: access to and decisions on agricultural credit, agricultural group membership, and asset ownership. Men are mainly disempowered in access to and decisions on agricultural credit and agricultural group membership. We find that women’s empowerment has a positive and significant effect on households’ food consumption scores, whereas the male’s empowerment effect is weaker and much lower. The dimensions of women’s empowerment that matter most in increasing household’s food consumption cost are input in productive decisions, control over use of income, and group membership. With men, the dimension that matters most in increasing household’s food consumption cost is access to and decisions on credit. The study results suggest that household food and nutrition security could be enhanced to a greater degree through interventions that promote women’s empowerment in agriculture.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Moi, Edna Iravo, Mike Minja, David https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3863 2022-10-12T17:05:48Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Discussion Paper No. 266 of 2021 on Gender-Based Leadership Inequality and Economic Development in Kenya Moi, Edna; Iravo, Mike; Minja, David The need to achieve gender-based leadership and reduce the inequality that has existed before cannot be without women’s empowerment. Having female leadership increases equality, since most African countries are patriarchal societies. This paper utilized a descriptive research design and used both secondary and primary data from two County Governments in Kenya. The paper found that in both political and economic leadership, there is still a disparity between men and women. In terms of ownership of land and employment, economic benefits go to individuals, groups, and regions that had hitherto not gained much from what little growth has taken place. The right to education is guaranteed by the Constitution as a variable to the empowerment of women and girls, but education is still wanting for women. Many girls are still out of school due to, among other factors, customary practices that expose them to early marriages and child pregnancies. The legal frameworks available, including African Call to have 50:50 gender representation, are yet to be realized in Kenya.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Gachanja, Isaac Muiruri https://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/3862 2022-10-12T17:05:44Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Discussion Paper No. 265 of 2021 on The Influence of Pedagogy on Self Efficacy of University Students in Kenya Across Gender Gachanja, Isaac Muiruri The early stages of developing entrepreneurs are important in shaping their attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, confidence and capacity. However, these stages are gender-sensitive due to the social-cultural, contextual and economic factors. The purpose of this study was therefore to conduct a comparative analysis of gender difference in the influence of Entrepreneurship Education Pedagogy (EEP) on self-efficacy of university students in Kenya. The study was anchored on social learning theory and role congruity theory. The research design applied in the study was cross-sectional. The target population was the fourth year entrepreneurship university students in Nairobi and Kiambu counties. Purposive sampling was used. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire. The type of data collected was quantitative and qualitative, which was analyzed through frequencies and linear regressions. The findings provided evidence that project-based learning does not have significant influence of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE) of university students in Kenya. It was also found that the Leaning Context had more moderating effect on the ESE of female students than males. It is recommended that there is need to refocus on project-based learning approach for improved ESE of graduates. The Leaning Context should also be improved by providing the required facilities such as incubation hubs. There is need for policy intervention in redesigning the entrepreneurship curriculum to competence-based.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z