The impact of youth enterprise development fund on the transition of youth to adulthood in Gatanga Sub-County, Kenya
type: CreativeWork
description: For the young people to attain adulthood status, there are relevant markers and dimensions of development which are used to measure their transition. The government of Kenya initiated a youth fund program in 2007 to support the youth during this critical stage of transition to adulthood. The contribution of this fund (youth enterprise development fund, YEDF) in facilitating youth transition to adulthood has never been investigated in Kenya. In addition, the researcher did not find any similar studies that have investigated the contribution of funding to youth transition to adulthood elsewhere in the world. The main aim of this research is to investigate the impact of YEDF on the transition of youth to adulthood in Gatanga sub-county, Kenya. The study draws largely from the findings of Arnett through his invention of “emerging adulthood theory” which lays emphasis on factual issues affecting education, marriage and employment which are relevant in studying youth transition to adulthood. The study utilized two measures of transition to adulthood as proposed by Arnett, namely, “Markers of Adulthood” (MoA) and “Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood” (IDEA) scales to assess emerging adulthood related issues to reveal any differences between funded and non-funded youth in Gatanga sub-county. Relevant data were collected using questionnaires through a stratified random sampling procedure. The participants consisted of 108 each for funded and non-funded youth, stratified by gender and area economic status. The statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were conducted using F- test to establish the significance of MoA and IDEA items in relation to YEDF, to detect differences between the funded and non-funded respondents on a specific item. Standardized factor loading was used to rate perception of MoA and IDEA items by the participants while exploratory factor analysis was used to determine unique factor sub-scales for MoA and ID…
abstract: For the young people to attain adulthood status, there are relevant markers and dimensions of development which are used to measure their transition. The government of Kenya initiated a youth fund program in 2007 to support the youth during this critical stage of transition to adulthood. The contribution of this fund (youth enterprise development fund, YEDF) in facilitating youth transition to adulthood has never been investigated in Kenya. In addition, the researcher did not find any similar studies that have investigated the contribution of funding to youth transition to adulthood elsewhere in the world. The main aim of this research is to investigate the impact of YEDF on the transition of youth to adulthood in Gatanga sub-county, Kenya. The study draws largely from the findings of Arnett through his invention of “emerging adulthood theory” which lays emphasis on factual issues affecting education, marriage and employment which are relevant in studying youth transition to adulthood. The study utilized two measures of transition to adulthood as proposed by Arnett, namely, “Markers of Adulthood” (MoA) and “Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood” (IDEA) scales to assess emerging adulthood related issues to reveal any differences between funded and non-funded youth in Gatanga sub-county. Relevant data were collected using questionnaires through a stratified random sampling procedure. The participants consisted of 108 each for funded and non-funded youth, stratified by gender and area economic status. The statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were conducted using F- test to establish the significance of MoA and IDEA items in relation to YEDF, to detect differences between the funded and non-funded respondents on a specific item. Standardized factor loading was used to rate perception of MoA and IDEA items by the participants while exploratory factor analysis was used to determine unique factor sub-scales for MoA and ID…
author: Wamukoya, Wilkyster
language: en
keywords: Youth enterprise development, Adulthood, Kenya
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:41Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Social Development

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41936