Thesis:

An investigation of exogenous variables affecting the performance of youth self help groups in Kenya counties. A case of Nyandarua county.

The purpose of this study was to bring into the limelight the exogenous factors effecting performance of youth self help projects in Kenya Counties with special reference to Nyandarua County. The specific objectives were to investigate the main stumbling blocks encountered by these formal groups in the accomplishment of their mission. The issues of concern revolved around the ability of these entities to access loan capital in order to finance their activities, entrepreneurial training and expertise among the leaders and members, gender issues and cohesiveness factors that influence their performance and above all the ability of these organizations to create wealth and employment for the benefit of the community in Nyandarua county. The results of this study are significant to future studies and programs. The study will create an avenue for the players in national government, more so, ministry of devolution and planning, county government and other relevant non-governmental organizations in all contexts where performance is a relevant factor. The outcome of the study could be used as a tool for strategic planning and capacity building for youth groups. The main goal is to use the findings of this project to build prosperous and sustainable rural economy, especially toward achieving the goals of vision 2030 in the Kenya Counties. According to the findings of the study the contribution of individual coefficient to the overall performance of youth groups were as follows: members cohesiveness (LC) 16.7% and gender influence (G) 30,7%.The biggest contributor of all four independent variables towards performance of youth groups in Nyandarua county was entrepreneurial training with 56.5% of the total and the least contributor was members cohesiveness with only 0.3%.The researcher recommends that the members of youth groups in the five sub counties of Nyandarua county should be empowered through regular training, in order to improve performance of their respective groups. Such training should be mainly on entrepreneurship and record keeping and should be facilitated by county government through relevant ministry. The researcher also recommended for further studies on the role of county government on promoting performance of projects owned by youth groups. In collecting the data, the researcher personally conducted oral interviews and administered questionnaires to the respondents. The analysis of the data was done using descriptive approach to determine percentages and frequency counts. Presentation was done using charts, graphs and frequency tables. The analysis of the data was done with the help of SPSS Program.