Assessing People’s Perceptions of Youth Enterprise Development Fund in Employment Creation towards Poverty Reduction in Meru, Kenya

Abstract

Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) is a national government program in Kenya providing financial services to unemployed youth to facilitate them initiate income generating business activities. Majority of unemployed youths are vulnerable to poverty characterized by lack of basic needs in life, and they do not have assets to serve as collateral in accessing bank loans. Therefore, the YEDF offers soft loans to enable them initiate business enterprises for employment creation and poverty reduction. The targeted youth groups are trained on entrepreneurship skills before being given the money. However, the rates of unemployment and poverty levels among youths continue to be high, indicating gaps in YEDF program. The objectives of the study were to; assess the role of YEDF in offering business start-up capital, study the role of YEDF in employment creation, and assess the efficacy of YEDF in poverty reduction. Literature on the functional role of entrepreneurship from the YEDF experience, and its role in poverty reduction was covered. The study applied mixed methods with quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection and analysis. The population of the International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science ISSN: 2307-924X www.ijlass.org 16 study included members of the youth social groups benefitting from YEDF in Meru County, Kenya. The study found that 68 percent of respondents felt that YEDF facilitated in offering business start-up capital which enabled employment creation and poverty reduction. Therefore, the study recommended for scaling up of YEDF to help more youths access business start-up capital to initiate and manage income generating enterprises, create employment opportunities and reduce poverty. From the findings of this study, 48 percent of the respondents reported that they received YEDF loans without any form of training, hence the need for capacity building on effective utilization of these funds before they are given to the youth.