Benefit Incidence Analysis Of Constituencies Development Fund Spending On Education Bursaries In Makueni County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The Constituencies Development Fund is one of the decentralized efforts started by Government of Kenya to tackle poverty and regional imbalances in Kenya since 2003. It has allocated over 40 per cent of the resources annually to education sector including bursaries. However, doubts have been cast over time as to whether the Fund’s expenditure is effectively targeted towards meeting the needs of the poor as anticipated especially in the education bursaries that take substantial resources. This study examined the distribution of the Fund’s education bursaries; ascertained the extent to which the Fund’s spending on education bursaries was progressive, regressive or neutral; and examined the gender dimension in the benefit incidence of CDF spending on education bursaries. The study used primary data for two variables: actual CDF expenditure on education bursaries at different levels and expenditure data for households from which the users of the CDF bursaries belonged. Secondary data was collected for users (by sex) of educational bursaries provided through CDF funding. The Benefit Incidence Analysis was used as the estimation technique to arrive at empirical findings. The study established that distribution of CDF education bursaries depended a lot on the nature of engagement of the head of the household and there was an inverse relationship between level of education attained by household head and the amount of CDF bursary awarded. The study also found that there was inconsistency in average bursary awards to different quintiles demonstrating poor targeting of such bursaries making access to education difficult and costly to poorer Kenyans. Results of the study established that CDF’s spending on education bursaries was progressive for secondary education and regressive for the tertiary level of education where students from the rich households gained undue advantage over the students from poor households. On gender dimensions, the study established that CDF expenditure on education bursaries was biased towards male students. In light of the foregoing, the study recommends that the government through the CDF boards improve dissemination of information on CDF bursaries by providing adequate publicity / communication budgets to enhance inclusiveness in bursary applications; government opens as many opportunities as possible for young Kenyans to achieve higher levels of education; the government should subsidise tertiary education to guarantee access to tertiary education by the poor; and the government could as a matter of urgency address poor targeting of CDF bursaries through effective profiling of needy students. The government through the ministry of education could increase budgetary allocations for secondary school bursaries by better prioritisation and ring fencing resources. On gender dimensions, it is important that the government has the right policy framework to ensure equal opportunities are availed. In conclusion, there should be better targeting and harmonisation of all educational bursaries focusing more on efficiency, equity and effective participation.