As the composition of urban dwellers has changed in recent years, so too have informal neighborhoods. Low wages and an inadequate housing system led to the emergence of these informal settlements, often referred to as slums. The Kenya Slum Rehabilitating Programme was launched in the year 2000 by the government of Kenya in an attempt to enhance the number as well as the quality of houses that are within reasonable price ranges for workers earning low wages by modernizing slum areas. The purpose of this research was to analyze a case study conducted by UN-HABITAT on slum upgrading projects in Kenya and to determine the effect that user-centered project design had on how well those projects were carried out. The goals of this research were assessing the impact of capacity building on the implementation of slum upgrading programs in Kenya; examine the role that monitoring and evaluation play in shaping these initiatives; examine the impact that stakeholder engagement has on these initiatives; and assess the impact that funding availability has on these initiatives. The study was directed by Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, stakeholder theory, and Arnstein's participatory theory. The study's participants consisted of those who benefit from the Project as well as government and community leaders. The sample size was calculated to be 368 individuals. For this investigation, stratified random sampling was employed. The study's tools were semi-structured questionnaire and an interviewing script. Only primary data collected via the use of a questionnaire was used by the researcher. Quantitative information was gathered via the use of closed-ended questions and then analyzed and categorized. Additionally, the data was coded by assigning figures, symbols, signs, and numbers. To analyze the data, the study utilized SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation, was calculated from the provided data and shown in frequency, percentages, and graphs. Thematic analysis was used to do the evaluation of the qualitative data. In order to establish how the dependent variables, relate to the independent variables, the researcher utilized inferential statistics such as regression analysis, correlation analysis, and ANOVA. The study found that user-based project design considerations influence implementation of slum upgrading programs in Nairobi Kenya. In addition, capacity building influences on implementation of slum upgrading programs at moderate extent with a composite mean score of 3.75. Monitoring and evaluation influence implementation of slum upgrading programs at moderate extent with a composite mean of 3.37. The participation of stakeholders and the availability of funds are factors that impact the execution of slum improvement initiatives to a modest amount with a composite mean score of 3.46. Availability of funds influence implementation of slum upgrading programs at moderate extent with a composite mean of 3.59. The outcomes of the study indicate that user-based project design considerations have a statistically significant influence on the implementation of slum development programs. According to the findings of the research, the slum upgrading programs trust, the government, and donor organizations should take a timelier approach to financing in order to enhance program execution and expedite the process of bringing it to a timely conclusion. Effective land use planning that includes slum dwellers and urban sprawl policies that meet the social, economic, and cultural requirements of those living in slums are necessary to curb the growth of slums. Planning should engage slum residents.

This study examined the role of mass media interventions in influencing public health policy processes in Kenya. The main objective of this study was to examine the role of mass media interventions in influencing public health policy processes in Kenya with a particular focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covered a period between 13th March 2020 and 27th May 2020, and it highlighted major themes of the pandemic. A total of 5034 newspaper articles were analyzed with 60% (3021) in the Daily Nation and 40% published by the Standard newspaper. The analysis that entails a “systematic reading of a body of texts, images, and symbolic matter” to decipher meaning and respond to research questions to collect data for this study build on media framing and social representation theories. Specifically, the study’s objectives include identification of planned media interventions used in coverage of COVID-19 by Daily Nation and the Standard Newspapers, assessing the influence of media coverage on implementation of public health policies during COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya and identification of dominant frames used during the coverage of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak by the Daily Nation and Standard newspapers in Kenya. This study analyzed data both quantitatively and qualitatively using descriptive and in ferential statistics. The study found that the media in Kenya majorly reported the pandemic in news reports (59%) and most certainly considering there could be some writers who conducted in-depth analysis of the pandemic, feature stories accounted for 10% of the total coverage. The study found that the newspaper articles largely provided pertinent information to their audience on how the pandemic might affect them, held authorities accountable, and offered independent advice. Most certainly this influenced the way government responded by coming up with various policy and regulatory measures. Indeed, the coverage of Covid-19 in the two newspaper (Daily Nation and the Standard) w as in line with government imperatives.

Microfinance credit cannot be underscored in the development and evolution of firms. The quality microfinance credit is a prerequisite for financial survival and continued operation. The immense profitability is a product of appropriate policies guiding the business and its credit. Moreover, the efficiency and effectiveness of the firm is replicated on the profitability. The firms’ mandate is to advance the returns, broaden and deepen sources of revenues through diversification, speculation of investment and efficiency. The microfinance credit and profitability are intertwined in the operation. It is imperative to elucidate that the supreme goal of the microfinance credit is to empower the firms and increase the capability. Notably, their operations have transformed to reach greatest notch and adequate framework have been incorporated to realize the aspiration and take chief part in the economic transformation. Moreover, profitability is vital for the success of the business. The excellent ideas are implemented with core objective of reaping substantial returns. Moreover, human capital, assets and investors have an integrated goal of ensuring continued profitability of the business. The objective of the study is to investigate the effect of microfinance credit on the profitability of SACCOs. On the other side, the descriptive design is common for explanation of cause-effect connection. The analyzing of the objective and arranging the work for easy computation is essential. In addition, purposive sampling is appropriate for rigorous assessment thereby arriving at the diligent conclusion. Arbitrarily, the data collected assist in realistic answers. The data collection was from 2017-2021 relating to 41 SACCOs. The data assembled was channeled via intensive procedures for analysis and conclusive outcome. The data was therefore classified, reviewed, and coded. Consequently, the study maximized SPSS for mathematical computation to arrive at better discernment. Moreover, it simplifies the interpretation and conclusion. It is important to postulate that dataset reached dependable solution through calculation, interpretation, and discussion. For instance, the standard deviation captured in the study expounded on the variability hence encapsulating data and providing condensed but insight findings. Importantly, profitability’s autonomous figure was 0.088 hence accentuating that when all factors are kept constant there is an improvement in the profitability by 8.8%. As a consequence, an increment in the personal loans by a solitary unit translates to insubstantial increment in the profitability by 1.3% only when other enablers are kept constant (β=0.013, p=0.096>0.05). Furthermore, an addition of a solitary unit to business loans generates a corresponding significant decrease in the profitability by 18.8% whenever all the enabling factors are maintained unchanged (β=-0.188, p=0.000<0.05). Consequently, an improvement of agricultural loan by a singular unit appropriately triggers and a substantial adjustment on the profitability of 6.7% if all other variables are kept constant (β=0.067, p=0.000<0.05). In consequence, unitary positive advancement of real estate loans reciprocates an appropriate substantial increment on the profitability by 1.7% under condition that all enablers are constant (β=0.017, p=0.15<0.05). Furthermore, the study recommends that extra diligence should be observed when advancing a loan to any group. Preferably, collaterals should be sought before loan disbursements.

The study was undertaken to ascertain the effect of leverage on the financial stability of deposit taking micro-finance institutions in Kenya. To achieve the objective of the study, secondary data, concerning the study variables, was utilized which was obtained from published and audited annual reports. The response rate was 80% as the study could not collect all the panel data as targeted since four DT-MFIs were not yet established for the years 2012 and 2013. The study carried out descriptive and inferential statistics to achieve the objective of the study. Correlation and regression analysis was undertaken on the panel data where all the independent variables displayed a significant correlation against the dependent variable of the study. Financial leverage indicated a positive and significant correlation of 0.447 against stability. NPL indicated a weak negative and significant correlation of -0.238 against stability. Tax payment revealed a positive and significant correlation of 0.326 against stability while the size of the firm indicated a strong positive and significant correlation of 0.628 against stability. The R square was 0.426 implying that the coefficient of determination was 42.6 % which suggests that the independent variables in the model could account for only 42.6% of the changes in the dependent variable of the study. Adjusted R square recorded a value of 0.402, which was below R square to indicate that the model had elements that did not add value to it. The model indicated significance of 0.001 which was below 0.05. Therefore, the study rejected the null hypothesis and concluded that there is significant effect of financial leverage on stability of DT-MFIs. Financial leverage and size had significance effect on stability as their p-value was less than 0.05 while NPL and Tax payment indicated p value that was above 0.05 hence, were not-statistically significant. The model implies that a unit increase in financial leverage when size is constant will lead to an increase of 0.023 in stability of DT-MFIs. On the other hand, a unit increase in size will lead to an increase of 0.621 in stability when financial leverage is kept constant. The study therefore recommended increasing financial leverage for DT-MFIs as well as ensure they enhance and improve their growth. The study also recommended that these institutions should not incur extra costs in trying to manage NPLs. Similarly, the study also recommended duly payment of taxes, as tax payments had non-significant impact on financial stability but lack of tax payment would increase non-compliance risks that would jeopardize the licensing of the institution.

Financial decision is driven by the maximization of shareholders’ value. Financial leverage is operationalized to enhance business productivity, create value to shareholders and increase its going concern. In addition, the financial performance strategies are spearheaded by the demand to upgrade the value through the maximization of assets to generate revenue. Despite the crucial impact of financial leverage, there have been minimal regards and concentration. The study was motivated to undertake key scrutiny of the effect of financial leverage on finance the financial performance. The theories that anchored the study are pecking order theory which stipulated the procedural techniques in sourcing funds. Trade-off theory accentuated the optimum level for debts verse equity, and resource dependency theory reinforce importance of resources at the disposal. The leverage was operationalized using debt to equity while performance maximized ROA. Correlation analysis provided deeper insight to the study. From the findings, liquidity posted a negative significant association towards financial performance (ROA) of (r=-0.048, P= 0.458). Business risk and leverage recorded positive correlation with ROA. Business risk portrayed weak positive association as implied by (r= 0.075, p=0.248) and Leverage recorded strong positive correlation as seen in (r = 0.890, p=0.000). Regression analysis R value was 0.909. This blueprints a 90.9% strong correlation among the factors in the research. R- Square of 0.826 depicted that 82.6% of deviation in financial leverage is elaborated by leverage, business risk and liquidity. 17.4% of variation in financial leverage is explained by factors not included in this research. ANOVA posit that P value was at 0.001, hence, below the P-value therefore implying that the model is statistically significant. The study assessed multicollinearity, linearity and autocorrelation and gave green light for more analysis since the data observe the research rules. The coefficient of determination computation states a unit change in liquidity has a negative impact on financial performance of 2.2%. Moreover, an increment of business risk increase the financial performance by 49.6%. Moreover, an advancement of leverage by one unit translated to 58.5% financial performance when all factors are held at constant. Further to the findings, the F Statistics is at 0.001, this implies that the model is good fit. The study recommended for policy formulation that suit each sector. Moreover, the study recommended for policies that addresses optimum financial leverage to increase maximization of assets. The study focused on the non-financial sector due to limited coverage by the preceding scholars. It is imperative to stipulate for more research undertakings on financial liabilities, short-term debts and financial fragility.

Safe asset view and lazy bank view have been suggested for the interaction between public debt and financial development. Lazy bank view suggests that banks with greater public debt instruments increase their profitability but decrease their efficiency and in turn lowers financial depth in time. On the other side, safe asset view asserts that limited amount of public borrowing supports financial development. So, the net influence of public borrowing on financial sector development depends on public borrowing level and country specific characteristics. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of public debt on Kenya’s financial development. The study was anchored on debt overhang theory and supported by crowding out effect theory and functional finance theory. The independent variable was public debt operationalized using debt service to revenue ratio and debt service to export ratio while the control variables were; interest rate and inflation. The dependent variable that the research attempted to explain was the financial development in Kenya. The data was collected on a quarterly basis over a period of twenty years (from January 2002 to December 2021). A descriptive research approach was employed in the research, with a multivariate regression model used to examine the connection between the study variables. The study's findings yielded an R-square value of 0.282, indicating that the chosen independent variables could explain 28.2 percent of the variance in Kenya’s financial development, while the other 71.8 percent was due to other factors not investigated in this study. The F statistic was significant at a 5% level with a p=0.000. This suggests that the model was adequate for explaining financial development in Kenya. Further, the findings demonstrated that debt service to revenue ratio, debt service to export ratio and interest rate had a positive and significant influence on Kenya’s financial development. Inflation had no significant influence on Kenya’s financial development. The study recommends the need for practitioners and policy makers to ensure to develop target debt service to revenue ratio and debt service to export ratio that will promote financial development. The policy makers should also ensure that both the government revenue and exports keep increasing with a rise in debt service. Future studies can focus on other determinants of financial development in Kenya such as financial literacy, unemployment among others. Future studies can also focus on a longer study period to confirm the findings.

Business environment especially the financial sector has continued to be more competitive in the recent years. The competition has been attributed to the increasing uptake of various technological innovations such as agency banking, mobile banking, internet banking, and ATMs usage, being adopted by commercial banks. However, despite the uptake, many of the commercial banks continue to struggle with growth particularly in their overall financial performance. Therefore, this project work established the theoretical and conceptual relationship on the impacts of technological innovations applied on the financial development of commercial banks in Kenya. The project employed the return on assets as a measure of performance and the total transactions on agency, mobile and ATMs as measures of the technological uptake. The research was conducted on the 43 registered commercial banks from 2011 to 2020. From the regression analysis carried, the study deduced that indeed there is a positive correlation between financial performance of commercial banks and the technological innovations being used. However, despite this tremendous output, there are still gaps in the uptake. Therefore, the study proposes further research work to be conducted to indentify some of the hindrance factors that affect the update of new technological innovations in Kenya

Industries in the private sector are key drivers of growth in an economy. Through creation of employment and production of goods and services, these industries contribute greatly to growth of the gross domestic product. However, these industries require sufficient funds for their operations. Funds are raised through various channels which include debt, equity, and retained earnings. A firm’s level of corporate debt is usually determined by various market factors, among them being macroeconomic factors. This study determined the long run relationship between macroeconomic factors and private sector corporate debt. Time series data on private sector corporate debt, interest rate, gross domestic product growth rate, growth rate of public investment and foreign direct investment growth rate in Kenya from the year 1970 to 2020 was used. The model was specified through autoregressive distributed lag model. It Was established that public investment growth and foreign direct investment had a negative and significant effect on private corporate debt as predicted. Moreover, growth in GDPshowed a negative and significant effect on private corporate debt similar to the findings by Chebet (2017) while exploring the macroeconomic factors influencing credit demand by the Kenyan private sector. Furthermore, the study established an adverse significant impact between interest rates and private corporate debt. Therefore, the study recommends that the government should balance on public investment to combat rise in private corporate debt arising from increased borrowing to fund public utilities. It should also set up policies that encourage foreign investment and economic growth.This will result to improved capital holdings and investment capacity in different sectors. Lastly, the government can apply monetary policies to achieve the desired levels of corporate debt that would protect firms from risks associated with debt financing.

The nation's young people are its most valuable resource, and they must get the kind of nurturing and education that will allow them to reach their full potential. On the other hand, the problem of delinquent conduct in Kenya is primarily considered a problem with the country's criminal justice system, while the psychological element is overlooked. The goal of the research was to establish whether or not there is a relationship between Defiant Opposition Behavior and delinquent behavior at the Kamiti Youth Correction and Training Centre (KYCTC) located in Kiambu County to establish suitable measures that would assist in the reduction of delinquent behavior. Specifically, the study's goal was to find out if there was any connection between the two. The participants in the study were chosen using the Mojave Child and Adolescent Symptom Rating Scale – Oppositional Defiant Disorder in conjunction with open-ended interviews. The age range of the participants ranged from 13 to 19 years old. The research employed ex-postfacto study design and theories of learning and development in the investigations. According to the study's findings, there is a connection between oppositional defiant disorder and adolescent criminal behavior. The study came to the general conclusion that the majority of the young people who are housed in these correctional facilities are susceptible to ODD as a result of the social factors that are present in the living conditions that they are forced to endure. As a result, initiatives to empower youth should be established, parental education programs should be supported, and the government should establish regulations to guarantee that parents are allowed to attend forums related to their children's activities. The study concluded that there is a significant relationship between the risk of oppositional defiant disorder and delinquent behavior among male teenagers between the ages of 13-19 in Kamiti Youth Correction and Training Centre.

Community library engagements in disseminating civic education had for the past two decades grown into such a notable venture. The presence of such libraries with different approaches to this venture had become subject worthy research with the aim of facilitating more appropriate strategies of doing the same. This research sought to assess the community libraries’ engagements in imparting civic education to the citizenry and specifically focused on the Kibra informal settlement community library. The study’s specific objectives were to establish the type of civic education materials stocked by the Kenya National Library Services, Kibra; to examine the extent of usage of the civic education materials; to establish the extent to which the Kenya National Library Services is engaged in imparting civic education, and to suggest appropriate strategies of disseminating civic education alongside the existing methods. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology which involved the use of descriptive data collection techniques and interpretation. The collected data was analyzed descriptively, and results presented by use of bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, tables, and figures to bring the study to its conclusion and recommendations. The study was based at the Kibra community library. The target population was derived from the KNLS library department and included the users of the same. The study was expected to be a lead towards appropriate strategies towards dissemination of civic education among the users of the Kibra community.