Abstract:
Extreme poverty is a big challenge all over the world (Olinto &Uematsu, 2000). According to the International Institute for Sustainable development (2013), all development actors should involve poor communities to eradicate poverty for sustainable development. According to Aduda (2008), CDF is meant to give the people at the local levels the chance to make informed expenditure decisions that are geared to maximizing their welfare. Most of these development projects are in education, health, economic empowerment as well as infrastructure developments, which are the main challenges facing community development since independence (Kimenyi, (2005). The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of CDF on socio-economic development in Mbeere South Constituency of Embu County, Kenya. It reviewed literature in line with the area of study to identify gaps of the previous studies in the subject area. A quantitative descriptive design was used, whereby cluster sampling method was used according to five administrative wards in Mbeere South, which had a population of 130,185 people according to 2009 National census (KNBS 2015). The researcher then used convenience sampling method to pick a sample of 100 respondents from across the five administrative wards. The independent variables of the study were infrastructure, social welfare, and job creation developments. A questionnaire was administered through drop-and- pick-after-two-hours method. A step-wise regression was used on each independent variable against the dependent variable, with a final multivariate regression model to determine the relative importance of each of the three independent variables with respect to effect of CDF projects on socio-economic development. The regression analysis conducted established that all the three independent variables have a positive correlation with the dependent variable. The ANOVA analysis was meant to investigate if variation in the independent variables explained the observed variance in the outcome, which in this case was the local development. The ANOVA results of the study showed a correlation between the predictor variables and the response variable, with an r-value of 0.570 and a P-value of 0.000, which was less that 0.05, meaning that there was a strong positive relationship between the study variables. Further, the regression results showed standardized beta coefficients of 0.4471, 0.2873 and 0.1048 for job creation projects, social welfare projects, and infrastructure projects respectively in order of significance.
