The Influence of non-governmental organizations' education interventions on community empowerment in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Adoption of Sustainable Development Goals by United Nations are aimed at ending poverty. Realization of these goals has been a challenge which has prompted development actors to work together to pursue community development. Non-governmental organizations are key actors in community development through various strategies. Education is one of approaches used to transform social-economic status of communities and an integral part in realization of all other Sustainable Development Goals. Non-governmental organizations support education through interventions such as financial, basic needs, capacity development and character building interventions. Despite intentions to achieve community development through education, there are still challenges in terms of social economic development. Education as an empowerment tool is deemed effective through empowering both individuals and communities. However, success of education interventions by non-governmental organizations was measured using individual empowerment indicators, hence the achievement of community empowerment a prerequisite for community development was not known. The study sought to assess the influence of education interventions on community empowerment. The accessible population was 116 organizations in Nakuru County that support education. Stratified sampling was used to classify organizations in sub counties while Purposive sampling and Snowball sampling were used to identify beneficiaries from selected organizations. Coefficient of variation formula was used to determine sample size of beneficiaries of education interventions. Data collection instruments were questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings showed that financial interventions had higher influence on community empowerment followed by capacity development, basic needs and character building interventions respectively. These findings may be used to inform: non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders on the influence of education interventions on community empowerment; policy makers on adoption of education as an integral part of achieving sustainable development and also recommend development of an education for community empowerment model.