Challenges Facing the Implementation of Policies in the Culture Sector in Kenya

Abstract

The study was designed to explore the challenges facing the implementation of policies in the culture sector of Kenya with specific objective of the study being; to investigate the context within which the policies in the culture sector were implemented and who the actor were. The other objective of the study was to examine the challenges that faced the implementation of policies in the culture sector. The research reviewed literature related to policy development and implementation. Among the major themes that were reviewed included literature on government policies, policy formulation, policy implementation and policy coordination. The review established that while various studies had been undertaken in the area of policy and policy implementation, no study had explored the challenges facing the implementation of policies in the culture sector in Kenya. No study had taken into consideration the process or contingents of policy development and implementation, the context of policy formulation and implementation, the actors involved at various levels of policy development and implementation, the policy content and their interrelation and influence on each other which is a research gap that this study sought to address. The study made use of the policy analysis framework which focus on the interrelation and influence of the context, content, process and the actors in the policy development and implementation as precursor of policy success or failure. The study was carried out at the ministry of state for National Heritage and Culture, Ministry of Tourism and the Kenya Copyright Board and was conducted using cross sectional, exploratory and descriptive methods. The study used qualitative methods of data collection. It also used the non probability sampling designs through which agencies in the identified institutions were purposively sampled. The agencies were sampled due to their role in policy implementation in the sector under study. The study made use of both secondary and primary data. Secondary data was drawn from perusal of acts and policy from selected institutions. In-depth interviews were used to collect information from CEDS and County Cultural Officers who are responsible for policy implementation in their respective agencies. The data collected was qualitatively analyzed. The study found out that the actors in the sector operated within their respective legal and institutional framework. Each institution or agency operated independent of each other though their tasks and responsibilities are generally similar. The study also established that the sector acts and policies duplicated and overlapped each other and thus pulled efforts in different direction. The study established that other challenges in the sector included limited awareness of act and policies within the sector, inadequate sector funding and inadequate human resource to manage the sector among others. The study made recommendations on how to improve the overall operations of the sector. These recommendations included among others, the need to establish a coordinating agency or mechanism that spells out the roles of various actors and linkages, need to work on sector acts and policies with a view to remove duplication and overlaps as well as need for further research on the sector in order to establish its actual worth and contribution to economy.