Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to assess the determinants of successful implementation
of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) by County Governments in
Kenya from the implementing partners‟ perspective. This study was guided by the
following specific objectives: to determine the influence of the capacities of the
County Government staff on the implementation of early childhood development
education by County Governments in Kenya, to determine the how management of
early childhood development education affects its implementation by County
Governments in Kenya, to assess how availability of physical facilities affect the
implementation of early childhood development education by County Governments in
Kenya and to examine how policies affect the implementation of early childhood
development education by County Governments in Kenya. Decentralization theory
and organization learning theory were used to explain the relationship between the
study variables. Descriptive research design was used in the study. The population for
the study was implementing partners working with County Governments in Kenya to
support ECDE. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents to
participate in the study. A total of 100 respondents were targeted from the 10
organizations studied out of which 70 participated giving a response rate of 70%. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Both qualitative and
quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. The study found
that the implementation of ECDE by County governments in Kenya was generally
successful from the implementing partners‟ perspective and indicated by 56.8%. It is
also worth noting that beside the general success, there were myriads of challenges
facing the implementation of the program by county governments. Findings from
regression analysis showed that the coefficient of determination indicated that 63.5%
of the variations on the implementation of ECDE by county governments can be
explained by staff capacity, management of ECDE, availability of physical facilities
and ECDE policies. The remaining 36.5% can be explained by other variables not
included in the study. R square and adjusted R is above average an implication that an
above average variation can be explained by the model. The study recommended that
county governments should allocate more funds for the renovation and construction of
more ECDE centres, allocate adequate funds for the implementation of ECDE and
that they should organize consistent in-service training for ECDE teachers and at the
same time employ more ECDE staff to cater for the large number of children in
ECDE centres.
