Socio-economic determinants of gender development in informal settlements in mukuru-Sinai in Makadara district, Nairobi county

Abstract

The pull factor of better access to socio-economic opportunities has contributed to the establishment, if not the permanence, of informal settlements in most countries. The reality is that migrants frequently live in informal settlements that are 'economically, socially, and politically marginalized urban communities. The main challenge for women in the informal sector is access to relevant knowledge, skills and credit to support their small-scale enterprises. The purpose of this study is to establish the factors influencing gender development in informal settlements in Mukuru - Sinai Slum, in Makadara District, Nairobi County. The study will adopt a descriptive survey. The population of interest will be all residents of Mukuru-Sinai Slum in Makadara District, Nairobi County. The population is approximately 4,000 individuals in 800 households. Cluster sampling technique will be used to select the sample. A total sample of 260 households will then be selected randomly comprising of 52 households from each cluster. The primary data will be collected from the residents of Sinai-Mukuru slum using a questionnaire which will be administered using a drop and pick later method. Descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency, frequencies and relative frequencies (percentages) will be used to analyze the quantitative data. Conceptual content ~ analysis will be used for data that is qualitative nature or aspect of the data collected from the open ended questions. In addition, a multivariate regression model will be applied to determine the relative importance of each of the three variables with respect to gender development. The study concluded that there is a significant and positive relationship between education level and influencing gender development in informal settlements in Mukuru-Sinai Slum in Makadara District, Nairobi County, Further, the study revealed that access to business opportunities affected their social economical development to great extent. Finally, the study concluded that female's were more affected economically though most had engaged in various economic activities ranging from employment to self employment such as saloons and groceries. The study recommended that government should enhance living standard of the community living in slum areas through providing financial support and subsidiaries to ensure their living standard and style is improved. Further, the study recommended that industries offering employments to the public should review their remuneration policy to tally with volume of work that employees perform. Finally, the study recommended that government should provide full support t~ .the community through engaging community on economic activities as by doing so the economy ofthe country will also improve.