Factors affecting the adoption of appropriate building materials and technologies (abm&ts) programme in North Eastern province of Kenya

Abstract

Despite the government effort to introduce appropriate building materials and technologies to avert the poor housing situation in the country at large, the people of North Eastern Province have adopted but at slow rate compared to other provinces. This research is performed to determine the factors affecting the adoption of Appropriate Building Materials and Technologies (ABM&Ts) in North Eastern Province of Kenya for improved housing and shelter situation. The study was necessitated out of the problem that there had been low uptake of the appropriate building materials and technologies ( ABM&Ts ) in North Eastern province compared to other provinces of the Republic of Kenya.This study reviewed existing literature and examined the motivation for this work and tried to justify why research in ISSB is of great importance to Kenya and the world. It is interesting to note that most of those who have researched on ISSB point out and agree that soil is a very important component of building construction. The conventional method of building construction has been that of stone, steel, corrugated sheets among others but very few people have thought about soil being a source of durable building blocks. This was the case in Kenya until the year 2006, when the Government launched an ambitious programme to sensitize the people on ABM&Ts programme including the North Eastern province. The population of study was the groups and individuals who were trained on this programme since 2008 when it started in the North Eastern province. The number of people tha had already been trained was 200. The researcher sampled 100 trained people selected using simple random sampling. Since it was not possible to cover the whole of North Eastern province, the researcher selected Garissa and Wajir counties as the study areas. Data was collected using the questionnaire as the main instrument although guided interviews and observations was also used to gather knowledge and information. Since the study was a descriptive research survey design, analysis of data was done using SPSS software where descriptive statistics, tabulations, percentages, and percentages were generated. Most of the findings of this study agreed with the objectives as had been drawn. The objectives also agreed with literature review bu there were small deviations from the expected results. The study concluded that ABM&Ts programme has a great potential in reducing the cost of building and help in the improvement of housing in North Eastern province. Therefore to improve its adoption, stringent evaluation of it adoption has to be carried out.The study concluded that ABM&Ts programme has a great potential in reducing the cost of building and help in the improvement of housing in North Eastern province. Therefore to improve its adoption, stringent evaluation of it adoption has to be carried training on ABM&Ts will continue to play a pivotal role in the adoption of this programme as well as in an effort to raise a critical mass that can enhance wide application of ABM&Ts.