Effects of Interaction of Graduates in Empowering Rural Communities through a BAC- GORTA Scholarship-Training Programme of selected areas in Kenya

Abstract

Training institutions dealing with agriculture and rural development in Kenya face major challenges in their approaches and methods to education and training. These challenges include but are not limited to; inadequate funding, falling student enrolment, inadequate practical skills, poor quality and irrelevant programmes, diminishing graduate employment opportunities and lack of clear and well articulated vision and mission. This has led to inability of such institutions to achieve their training and education objectives. Consequently, some development partners have shown greater concern and interest in supporting training institutions in Kenya. Against this background, a study was carried out on one such scholarship programme in selected parts of Nyanza, Rift-Valley and Western provinces of Kenya. Both qualitative and survey research design were adopted in the study. Data was collected from a sample of 100 graduates selected from a population of 280 past graduates. A questionnaire was used to collect the required data. The collected data was collated, coded and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at significance level of 0.05. This paper examines the effects of the scholarship training programme offered by Baraka Agricultural College in Kenya and supported by GORTA, a Northern development partner. The results show how the scholarship support scheme facilitated in the empowerment of communities and enabled them attain some levels of sustainable development. Further, the paper reveals that through the scholarship scheme, graduates have actively played their roles in their communities by contributing positively to changes in communities’ livelihoods as well as achieving their self-reliance expectations. This study concludes by highlighting the need for support for training institutions and key persons in the community to act as facilitators of development and consequently provides recommendations to various stakeholders. Key words: learning, scholarship, rural, empowerment, communities, development