Factors that Influence Effective Communication of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund to the Youth in Kabianga Division, Kericho County, Kenya
Chepngeno B. Judy, Biwott Edith Jelagat

Abstract
Information provision facilitates development in any country. The government should, therefore, ensure that policies are communicated well so that the target audience is reached and the objective achieved.This Paper sought to find out the factors that influence effective communication of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) to the youth in rural areas. The study was carried out in Kabianga division of Kericho County. The study targeted all youth within the age bracket of 18-35 years in Kabianga division. A total of 210 respondents participated in the study. The main tool of data collection was survey-questionnaires for statistical analysis. However, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to complement with qualitative data. Lack of access to media, unavailability to use media, individual’s educational level, language used in dissemination were some of the major factors hindering effective communication to the youth in rural areas. Other factors that influenced adoption of innovations were personal characteristics. It was concluded that the youth who had received the information and acted upon it by forming youth groups were: educated, of low socioeconomic status, had a more favourable attitude, willing to take risks, had higher exposure to the outside world among others. From the study findings, the paper recommends that the government should establish infrastructures in the rural areas to make these resources easily accessible to the people.

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