©ARC Page | 77 Contribution of Constituency Development Fund Bursary on the Provision of Secondary Education of Ogiek Girls in Njoro

Abstract: This study sought to establish the contribution of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) bursary in the provision of secondary education for marginalised Ogiek girls in Njoro sub-county in Kenya. Snowball sampling procedure was used to select 111 Ogiek girls who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The study revealed that: (i) the majority of the girls (98 %) qualified to benefit from the fund as they were either partial orphans or from needy families with monthly earning averaging K.Shs 5,123 (SD = , 4,315), (ii) Ogiek girls with medium level of awareness of the fund were significantly higher (X2 =21.5, df=2, p=0.001) than the ones with high or low levels, (iii) only 10 % of the girls had accessed the funds in the last three years, (iv) the CDF bursary had low influence in retaining the girls in school, as the amount of money given averaged K.Shs. 3,000 per year, which was well below the required fees of K.Shs 20,000 (v) more than 80 % of the girls perceived that the CDF bursary played a negligible role in transiting the girls to tertiary institutions. The reasons stated for the low access to the fund were: non application, lack of application forms, lack of knowledge of how and when to apply for the funds and lack of response by the fund administrators. The study recommended that the CDF administrators and other stakeholders create ways of training and providing the girls with knowledge on the fund and how to apply for it