Community collaboration towards solving rural social issues
Faculty Advisor Name
Margaret F. Sloan
Department
School of Strategic Leadership Studies
Description
This proposed study examined collaborative leadership strategies for addressing and mitigating entrenched social problems. In particular, it aimed at establishing whether rural community’ social issues can be addressed through the collaboration of all stakeholders rather than one central command of leadership. The stakeholders include but are not limited to members of the nonprofits organizations, CBOs, grassroots organizations, the religious sectors, health centers, learning institutions, the government, and businesses (Crosby & Bryson, 2005). Why does this matter? Research has shown that employing an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach tends to lead to more sustainable community-driven development. Communities always have some indigenous knowledge that could provide a better perspective to solving problems. Most of the previous studies have focused on teenage pregnancy in light of urban communities, sadly the problem is more vibrant in rural communities because they are more vulnerable due to their social-economic status. This study was inspired by the increase in numbers of Teenage Pregnancy as a stumbling block for Gender Equality in Kenya.
The study is ongoing in Kilifi County, a county with a population of approximately 1.5M, 60% aged 19 years and below. Kilifi County is one of the regions reporting an increasing number of teenage pregnancies and related issues (County government of Kilifi, 2019; Njoka, 2016). Data from the government of Kenya indicate that one in every five girls is either pregnant or already with a child, but in Kilifi County, one in every four girls between the ages of 15- 19 already has delivered a child. The county government of Kilifi (2018) estimates that 22% of teenagers are pregnant or have already given birth.
We conducted an exploratory survey on local nonprofits organizations in Kilifi County working in the teen pregnancy context using Turning Point’s Collaborative Leadership Self-Assessment Tools which measures six constructs that have been identified as antecedents for collaboration. Twenty-eight nonprofit leaders responded and data was analyzed using diagnostic analysis to help understand the score of nonprofit leaders in enabling collaboration. In the preliminary results, Kilifi NPO leaders scored highly, this means that antecedents for collaboration already exist among stakeholders in Kilifi county, their strongest construct was developing people (µ=62.32) while their weakest was Trusting (µ=57.86). Further analysis showed that the mean between groups based on gender is only statistically significant in one construct of Developing People [F(1, 26)=5.341, p=0.29] meaning there is a significant difference between males and females on how they develop people. The aim of the study is to yield sustainable recommendations on what strategies going forward could be helpful to mitigating teen pregnancy and other entrenched social issues through collaborative leadership.
Community collaboration towards solving rural social issues
This proposed study examined collaborative leadership strategies for addressing and mitigating entrenched social problems. In particular, it aimed at establishing whether rural community’ social issues can be addressed through the collaboration of all stakeholders rather than one central command of leadership. The stakeholders include but are not limited to members of the nonprofits organizations, CBOs, grassroots organizations, the religious sectors, health centers, learning institutions, the government, and businesses (Crosby & Bryson, 2005). Why does this matter? Research has shown that employing an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach tends to lead to more sustainable community-driven development. Communities always have some indigenous knowledge that could provide a better perspective to solving problems. Most of the previous studies have focused on teenage pregnancy in light of urban communities, sadly the problem is more vibrant in rural communities because they are more vulnerable due to their social-economic status. This study was inspired by the increase in numbers of Teenage Pregnancy as a stumbling block for Gender Equality in Kenya.
The study is ongoing in Kilifi County, a county with a population of approximately 1.5M, 60% aged 19 years and below. Kilifi County is one of the regions reporting an increasing number of teenage pregnancies and related issues (County government of Kilifi, 2019; Njoka, 2016). Data from the government of Kenya indicate that one in every five girls is either pregnant or already with a child, but in Kilifi County, one in every four girls between the ages of 15- 19 already has delivered a child. The county government of Kilifi (2018) estimates that 22% of teenagers are pregnant or have already given birth.
We conducted an exploratory survey on local nonprofits organizations in Kilifi County working in the teen pregnancy context using Turning Point’s Collaborative Leadership Self-Assessment Tools which measures six constructs that have been identified as antecedents for collaboration. Twenty-eight nonprofit leaders responded and data was analyzed using diagnostic analysis to help understand the score of nonprofit leaders in enabling collaboration. In the preliminary results, Kilifi NPO leaders scored highly, this means that antecedents for collaboration already exist among stakeholders in Kilifi county, their strongest construct was developing people (µ=62.32) while their weakest was Trusting (µ=57.86). Further analysis showed that the mean between groups based on gender is only statistically significant in one construct of Developing People [F(1, 26)=5.341, p=0.29] meaning there is a significant difference between males and females on how they develop people. The aim of the study is to yield sustainable recommendations on what strategies going forward could be helpful to mitigating teen pregnancy and other entrenched social issues through collaborative leadership.
