Browsing by Author "Waita, Sarah W."

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    A Framework for use of ICTs in poverty alleviation in Kenya
    Waita, Sarah W.
    Paper presented at Strathmore ICT Conference, 2009
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    A Framework for use of ICTs in poverty alleviation in Kenya
    (Strathmore University, 2009) Waita, Sarah W.
    Theres a common belief that ICTs can be used in poverty alleviation and despite the much effort to improve their access and use, theres no framework for use of ICTs in poverty alleviation for Kenya. This study therefore sought to develop such a framework by using a combination of poverty data and the national ICT status data. Other objectives of the study were to review the poverty patterns, review ICTs growth patterns and relate poverty and ICTs in Kenya. In order to achieve these objectives data was collected from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) and analysed quantitatively to compare different data sets. The outcome of the research shows that Poverty is rampant and widespread in Kenya with poverty incidences of up 46% in 200512006 when the last poverty mapping was done. This was a drop from the first estimates which were done in 1999 which showed an incidence of 53%. The poverty patterns indicate that education is a key determinant of poverty and the higher the level of education the lesser the poverty. Poverty is higher in urban areas than rural areas and gender plays an important role in poverty dynamics in different directions in rural and urban areas. The country also experiences high levels of inequality with an average Gini index of 34% in rural areas and 40% in rural areas. There is an increasing growth trend in both the old and new ICTs in Kenya with over 100% growth in most of the ICTs services providers and ICTs between 1999 and 2007. A plot of poverty and ICTs showed a relationship between the two which indicates that poverty is less where ICTs are more abundant. A framework for use of ICTs in poverty alleviation in Kenya was developed which is suitable for the country's specific context and its use is highly recommended to bring about some positive results.