Factors Affecting The Adoption Of Information And Communication Technology By Department Of Refugee Affairs, Ministry Of Immigration And Registration Of Persons-dadaab

Abstract

The focus of the study was to assess the factors affecting the adoption of information and communication technology by the department of refugee affairs. The objectives of the study were to determine the extent to which formulation of ICT policies affects adoption of ICT by the department of refugee Affairs under the ministry of Immigration and registration of persons in Kenya; to determine the extent to which leadership affects adoption of information and communication technology adoption at the department of refugee affairs and lastly to determine the extent to which ICT improves service delivery of DRA. The study used descriptive design while stratified sampling procedure was used. A total of 91 respondent participated to this study. Data was collected using a questionnaire as well as an interview schedule. The data was analyzed with the aid of SPSS- statistical package for social Sciences. The results revealed that Implementation of ICT adoption at DRA was successful with 48 percent of the respondents assessing the change not successful and 62 percent holding the contrary view. The study further revealed that the factors that have affected the adoption of ICT by the department of refugee affairs were lack of awareness of the government policy on ICT adoption by its employees. Coupled with that was the leadership through the organizational structure which was felt by the employee to be inflexible and too bureaucratic The analysis revealed that the organizational structure is too rigid and inflexible having evolved in the monopoly era and does not allow for decentralization in decision making hence not strategy supportive. The study also concludes that the most limiting factors to use of technology were, infrastructure issues, concerns over security, outdate technology, attitude of staff and cost of the ICT. Lack of a reliable source of power also limited ICT adoption because the whole of the refugee camp is not connected to the national grid and as such depended on generators. Lastly the study agrees that ICT adoption leads to better service delivery in form of time saving, error reduction rate, management decisions, speeds transaction, accurate record keeping, easy communication and makes enquiries faster.