Assessing Relationship between Capacity Building and Entrepreneurial Activities among Community Based Organisation over a Three-year Term in Western Region of Kenya

Abstract

Community-based organizations (CBOs) are organizations that operate at local and national level to improve life for residents in a community. However, research has revealed that most CBOs collapse after a short period of time from formation due to inadequate capacity among its members and leaders to run certain enterprise activities. This study was conducted in western region of Kenya covering seven counties within the region to analyse association between capacity building activities taken by the CBOs and level of entrepreneurial activities performance over a three-year period. The study used quasi experimental study design with CBOs purposively sampled from which data was collected at baseline 2015, midline 2016 and end line 2017. Descriptive analysis was done to establish the types of capacity building activities and types and level of entrepreneurial activities conducted, while performance of CBOs was measured over a period of three-years. Chi-square was used to determine the relationship between capacity building and level of entrepreneurial activities achieved. Results show that out of 41 CBOs, 4 (10%) recorded a good performance, 22 (54%) average performance while 15 (37%) achieved poor performance over the three-year term into capacity building activities. On entrepreneurial activities 19 CBOs (46%) had high performing while 22 (54%) recorded low performance. Whereas there is absence of statistically significant association between Capacity building level and Entrepreneurial activity level due to the low level of CBO numbers that attained High Performance (HEP) on capacity building activities in comparison with CBOs with Low Performance (LEP), performance on enterprise activities was remarkably high (75%) among CBOs with high training activities compared with those ranked poor on training activities (25%). This study identified 8 out of 30 capacity building activities being the minimum package that is needed for CBOs to register better performance in entrepreneurial activities including: entrepreneurship, business planning, marketing, financial management, table banking, governance, record keeping, leadership and governance, poultry keeping, merry go round, and agribusiness. The findings suggest a positive effect of high level of training activities on CBOs performance on enterprise activities. However, research is needed to help develop understanding as to why CBOs were not keen on training activities.