In recent decades, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have increasingly taken on development and political roles in Africa. This has partly been attributed to the New Policy Agenda (NPA) mounted by the international donors. The NPA is predicated on neo-liberal thinking advocating for an enlarged development role for the private sector and a minimalist state. This relatively new shift in development thought has been motivated by the declining capacity of the African state to deliver development and guarantee a liberal political system. This study, therefore, set out to empirically examine whether NGOs are capable of effectively playing their new-found development and political roles. The study was based on Kenya with the Western Province constituting the core research area. The fact that the Kenyan state has been gradually disengaging from the development process has created a vacuum of which the NGOs have attempted to fill. Equally important has been the observation that, for the greater part of the post-colonial period, the state has been largely authoritarian and therefore prompting a segment of civil society to take on political roles in an effort to force it to liberalize and democratize. Urban NGOs in particular, have been the most confrontational to the state with some remarkable success. Unlike their urban counterparts, rural-based NGOs have tended to be more developmental and play a politics of collaboration with the state. Many of the latter NGOs, although playing a significant role in rural development, have been co-opted into patron-client networks. Factors that influence NGOs= posture towards the state include the nature of their leadership, the extent of their nternational connections, and the level of resources at their disposal. The study=s principal conclusion, is that, in as much as NGOs and overall civil society have provided a basis for development and opposition to the state, there is an urgent and growing need for them to shift from a position of dependency, whether domestic or international, to relative autonomy. Only then, will their contributions be sustainable in society.

Data used in this study showed that many rural development projects in Kenya are not successfully implemented. This failure among rural projects has a negative impact on rural development in Kenya. Therefore, the purpose of this research effort was to show whether a centralized planning approach or a decentralized planning approach would be most successful in implementing rural projects in Kenya.Three rural projects were examined to show which be used in developing rural Kenya. Based on the definitions stated in chapter one, one project was thought to be nationally planned and two projects were thought to be locally planned. However, research revealed that all the three projects were centrally planned. Research also showed that the area covered by the project and availability of the project's research component play an important part in the success of a rural development project.Recommendations were made for further research on rural development which would lead to better solutions in developing countries of Africa. / Department of Urban Planning

Educators in local school systems who have been assigned the task of developing programs for gifted children often experience difficulty deciding what giftedness is. This difficulty stems from the fact that neither researchers nor educators agree as to which of a myriad of abilities actually constitute giftedness. Research literature on cultural differences suggests that a solution to the problem might lie in the development of a definition based on the attitudes and perceptions of the population to whom the definition is to be applied. In light of these suggestions, this study focused on the development of a definition of giftedness based on the attitudes and perceptions of the residents of a rural county in Appalachia. The site specific definition was subsequently compared with the most widely used conventional definition, i.e., the federal definition. A second focal point of the study was the elicitation of a list of respondents' perceptions of means of identifying gifted children and a list of appropriate educational services for these children. Again, the site specific elements were compared with their conventional counterparts. The Renzulli/Hartman Scale for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students served as a basis of comparison for the identification criteria. The conventional approach to the provision of services was derived from a synthesis of a body of literature describing special educational services for gifted children. The data collection centered around the determination of local attitudes and perceptions. The methodology, the Heuristic Elicitation Methodology, is one that is used by anthropologists and psycholinguists who seek to assess the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and preferences of specific groups. For the respondents, giftedness is a global concept comprising 18 elements. These elements are perceived as being closely related to each other in that they share a number of common features. The analysis also resulted in 16 items that are attributes of gifted people. Finally, the analysis showed that there are 13 kinds of educational services that are appropriate for gifted children. Some of these gifts/talents, attributes, and services are similar to their conventional counterparts; others are not. / Ph. D.

Effective implementation of rural development programmes will need much greater attention in the next decade if rural populations in the less developed countries are to benefit from development programmes undertaken by governments. Strategies such as civil service reform, bureaucratic innovation, capacity building, and different types of organization development may be useful in this regard. But expanding the problem-solving capacity of rural development organizations themselves, through the utilization of organizational members within different levels of hierarchy, will continue to be a superior way of increasing program success than the use of external consultants with "bags of tricks”. This study undertook a multi-level study of problem perception by policymakers, supervisors and field personnel in Kenya's agricultural extension service in order to: (1) identify important problems perceived by field staff and other personnel as causing frustration, dissatisfaction, and lowered morale; (2) determine any influence of demographic factors on problem perception; and (3) determine any commonality in problem perception between policymakers, supervisors, and field staff. Using interview guides with open-ended questions, in-depth interviews were undertaken for a selected number of policymakers at the head office, extension supervisors at six provincial headquarters' offices, and field extension staff of the Ministries of Agriculture, and Livestock Development in four different districts in Kenya. Major findings of the study were: (1) that field personnel and other extension staff perceive a wide range of problems; (2) that most prominent problems originate from within the organization itself rather than the external environment; and (3) although some perceived problems tended to lose their sharp definition and recognition by officials as one moved up the hierarchy, there was a surprisingly high level of commonality in problem perception between field personnel, supervisors and policymakers. The high level of commonality is seen as a good basis for future planned change aimed at improving the problem-solving capacity of the organization. / Ph. D.

Agricultural biodiversity, commonly referred to as agrobiodiversity, is that part of biodiversity that is geared towards agriculture and food production. Agrobiodiversity is said to contribute much to food and nutrition, but there is lack of data confirming this, particularly from Eastern Africa. To assess the extent of agrobiodiversity on smallholder farms and in local markets and to connect these to food intake and perceptions of food security among smallholder farmers in Western Kenya, the thesis asks four main research questions: (i) What is the extent of food plant diversity in smallholder farms, the bio-physical and socio-economic factors influencing it and the contribution of this diversity to the household's food needs? (ii) What is the relationship between agricultural and dietary diversity? (iii) What linkages are there between agricultural and nutritional diversity? (iv) How does access to agrobiodiversity in local markets contribute to meeting household food needs and what is the extent of smallholder farmers' integration into these markets? Through a combination of focus group discussions, farm and market surveys conducted across three time points, results indicate that: (i) higher food plant species richness is found on farms managed by wealthier and older households. However, these households are not more food secure than the rest, (ii) while there is a lack of a strong relationship between agricultural and dietary diversity, dietary diversity is instead significantly influenced by socio-economic factors including a household's wealth status, ethnicity and education level, (iii) despite a diversity of locally available on-farm and market food species meeting existing macro-and micro-nutrient needs, there is a general lack of understanding of this diversity as food shortage months coincide with a lack of maize despite high availability of a diversity of other foods not only to replace the maize but also to contribute to a diverse diet, (iv) smallholder farmers rely on multiple food sources, with markets mainly for sourcing cereals, fruits and animal source foods. There is also low integration of smallholder farmers as sellers in local markets. Together, the four case studies show interlinkages across food availability, accessibility and utilisation, which when addressed with equal weight, could unlock local agrobiodiversity's potential as a path to food and nutrition security of smallholder farming households.

Non Governmental Organisations have been operating in Africa since the 1940’s; then, their work was heavily biased towards relief work. From the 1980s however, the role of NGOs evolved to include development; understandably, African governments were finding it increasingly difficult to provide adequate levels of basic services for their people. To this effect and initially; NGOs got involved in development as short term "gap fillers" in the provision of basic services; health and education amongst others. As Africa’s development discourse continued unabated, NGOs were recognised by donors and host governments alike, as indispensible to the provision of such services; in time however, they became the subject of criticism for allegedly failing to irreversibly ameliorate the conditions of the poor. In delivering services, NGOs work in a complex partnership characterised by power imbalances. The partnership involves donors who own the means of production which facilitate NGOs’ work and host governments who “own” the humanitarian space which NGOs need to fulfil their humanitarian mandate. While seemingly poor and powerless, the communities served wield the power to facilitate or block the success of NGO interventions through their commitment and/or lack thereof; respectively; NGOs’ contribution is their skills and humanitarian spirit. The success of NGO interventions is a function of resources, humanitarian space and the goodwill that donors, host governments and the communities served bring to the partnership table respectively. The study sought to establish why between 2001-2006; NGO post-drought rehabilitation through to development interventions failed to irreversibly reduce vulnerability against drought in communities in Machakos District and the extent to which power imbalances which characterise “partnerships for development” contributed to the failure by NGOs to fulfil their mandate. The study revealed that NGOs are unwaveringly committed to their humanitarian mandate however; the power imbalances that characterise “partnerships for development” and in particular, that between NGOs’ and donors militated against the fulfilment of their mandate in Machakos District. When NGOs fail to deliver on their mandate; they lose credibility amongst the other partners and this reinforces the power imbalances; it’s a vicious cycle. “Caught at Crossroads...” NGOs are indeed. / Development Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Given the livelihoods challenges which face many rural communities, understanding a community’s livelihoods dynamics and opportunities is one major step to developing workable options to address the challenges. This study has focused on one rural community and used the five determinants of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to describe the livelihoods situation in Embui sub-location in Machakos County, Kenya. Residents of Embui have had to deal with the fact that traditional production systems are not sufficient to provide for their livelihoods needs. The community and continues to be challenged by limited capital for diversifying income sources, low skills and limited social and economic services. This study recommends support to marketing of locally produced artifacts, improved access to capital and provision of water for irrigation along with extension services as the key areas of support to improve the living standards of the residents of Embui / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Given the livelihoods challenges which face many rural communities, understanding a community’s livelihoods dynamics and opportunities is one major step to developing workable options to address the challenges. This study has focused on one rural community and used the five determinants of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to describe the livelihoods situation in Embui sub-location in Machakos County, Kenya. Residents of Embui have had to deal with the fact that traditional production systems are not sufficient to provide for their livelihoods needs. The community and continues to be challenged by limited capital for diversifying income sources, low skills and limited social and economic services. This study recommends support to marketing of locally produced artifacts, improved access to capital and provision of water for irrigation along with extension services as the key areas of support to improve the living standards of the residents of Embui / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Non Governmental Organisations have been operating in Africa since the 1940’s; then, their work was heavily biased towards relief work. From the 1980s however, the role of NGOs evolved to include development; understandably, African governments were finding it increasingly difficult to provide adequate levels of basic services for their people. To this effect and initially; NGOs got involved in development as short term "gap fillers" in the provision of basic services; health and education amongst others. As Africa’s development discourse continued unabated, NGOs were recognised by donors and host governments alike, as indispensible to the provision of such services; in time however, they became the subject of criticism for allegedly failing to irreversibly ameliorate the conditions of the poor. In delivering services, NGOs work in a complex partnership characterised by power imbalances. The partnership involves donors who own the means of production which facilitate NGOs’ work and host governments who “own” the humanitarian space which NGOs need to fulfil their humanitarian mandate. While seemingly poor and powerless, the communities served wield the power to facilitate or block the success of NGO interventions through their commitment and/or lack thereof; respectively; NGOs’ contribution is their skills and humanitarian spirit. The success of NGO interventions is a function of resources, humanitarian space and the goodwill that donors, host governments and the communities served bring to the partnership table respectively. The study sought to establish why between 2001-2006; NGO post-drought rehabilitation through to development interventions failed to irreversibly reduce vulnerability against drought in communities in Machakos District and the extent to which power imbalances which characterise “partnerships for development” contributed to the failure by NGOs to fulfil their mandate. The study revealed that NGOs are unwaveringly committed to their humanitarian mandate however; the power imbalances that characterise “partnerships for development” and in particular, that between NGOs’ and donors militated against the fulfilment of their mandate in Machakos District. When NGOs fail to deliver on their mandate; they lose credibility amongst the other partners and this reinforces the power imbalances; it’s a vicious cycle. “Caught at Crossroads...” NGOs are indeed. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)