Level of community collaboration in the implementation of wildlife conservation and management policy in King’wal Wildlife Conservancy, Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

This paper examined the extent of community collaboration in the implementation of Kenya’s Wildlife Management Policy in King’wal Wildlife Conservancy in Nandi County, Kenya. It was guided by the Rational Choice Theory. The paper adopted a descriptive survey research design in which both a structured questionnaire and interview schedule were used to gather information from the sampled respondents. The target population comprised assistant chiefs, village elders, conservation administrators, Non Governmental Organizations [NGOs] chairpersons, and households, consisting of 855 people. A sample of 273 respondents was selected using the stratified sampling technique. Frequencies, means, and percentages were used to analyze the data and to describe and summarize the findings in terms of descriptive statistics. There was a pre-testing to improve the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data, and open-ended responses and interviews were analyzed qualitatively with the use of thematic analysis and identifying the emerging patterns. The results revealed that community cooperation had a significant impact on policy enactment. The unstandardized coefficient (B) of a community collaboration was 0.567, and the standard error was 0.084, which means that a one-unit rise in community collaboration led to a rise in the implementation of the Wildlife Management Policy by 0.567 units, holding other variables steady. This means that an increasing degree of cooperation is linked with more efficient implementation of policies. The research established that the extent of community participation in wildlife management at King’wal Wildlife Conservancy was moderate, implying the existence of gaps in information sharing and representation. Based on the results and findings of this research, it is suggested that the conservation authorities ought to design more effective communication strategies in order to ensure that information regarding the management of wildlife policies is made available to all the segments of the community.