The third objective of the study was to examine the gender dimension in the benefit incidence of CDF spending on education bursaries in Makueni County. To examine the gender dimension in the benefit incidence of CDF spending on education bursaries, sex disaggregated data was collected and used to differentiate benefits associated with female students and male students. Table 4.15 presents the benefit incidence of CDF spending on education bursaries by sex.
Table 4.15: Benefit incidence of CDF Spending on Education Bursaries by Sex
Quintile Benefit Incidence
Male (%) Female (%) Poorest Quintile 19.94 27.62 Quintile 2 20.92 19.22 Quintile 3 15.64 16.59 Quintile 4 21.70 18.21 Richest Quintile 21.80 18.37
Data Source: Author’s Computation.
The male students from the poorest quintile were almost awarded the proportionate share after getting 19.9 per cent while male students from the
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richest quintile were awarded 21.8 per cent. Male students from the second poorest quintile were awarded 20.9 per cent while those from the second richest quintile were awarded 21.7 per cent.
The results for male students portray a distribution which is almost neutral implying that all the quintiles were almost awarded the proportionate share of the CDF educational bursaries. The case for the female students was different where those from the poorest quintile were awarded 27.6 per cent and those from the second poorest quintile 19.2 per cent totalling to 48.6 per cent share of the CDF bursaries. Female students from the richest quintile were awarded 18.4 per cent while those from the second richest quintile were awarded 18.2 per cent representing a total of 36.4 per cent of CDF educational bursaries to female students.
It is evident that the distribution of CDF bursaries to female students was progressive reflecting better targeting of the CDF bursaries. When both sexes are considered there was biasness towards the male students and such results reflected gender biasness. These results of gender biasness in the distribution of CDF educational bursaries collaborates the results of the three reviewed studies (Yuki, 2003; Heltberg et al., 2003; Ajay, 2003) that factored gender considerations in their studies and their findings indicated gender biasness in benefits distributions with women being disadvantaged.
Such findings send clear a signal that users will only benefit from a public expenditure once deliberate efforts are made to ensure their usage of the funded
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goods and services. Generally, issues of gender biasness with women being disadvantaged are well acknowledged in Kenya with the Constitution of Kenya 2010 having clear constitutional provisions for empowerment and mainstreaming of women in nation building activities.
The same results as found in table 4.15 are better illustrated by the concentration curves for CDF spending on education bursaries by sex in figure 4.3. 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00 C u m u lat ive % of p aym en ts
Cumulative % of population, ranked from poorest to richest
Line of equality Male Female
Figure 4.3: Concentration curves for CDF Spending on Education Bursaries by Gender
The concentration curves in figure 4.3 describe the entire distribution or the cumulative proportions of households ranked from the poorest to the richest, on the horizontal axis, against the cumulative proportions of benefits received by
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individual students on the vertical axis. Figure 4.3 shows the distribution of benefits to female students from CDF bursary spending to be progressive.
It is noteworthy that the concentration curve for CDF bursary expenditure on female students lies above the 45 degree diagonal implying that the poorest quintile gained more than 20 per cent of the total CDF expenditure on education bursaries in the year 2010/2011. The fact that the concentration curve for CDF bursary spending on female students lies above the 45 degree diagonal reveals the distribution of benefits to be progressive implying CDF funded bursaries for female students were well targeted for the year 2010/2011.
The concentration curve for the CDF spending on the male students lies below the 45 degree diagonal line but very close to the diagonal line. The finding portrays a slightly regressive distribution of benefits where the richest quintile of male students benefitted by more than their expected proportionate share of 20 per cent. The concentration curve for CDF spending on the male students demonstrates a clear case of poor targeting of the bursaries where male students from rich households achieved undue advantage over male students from poor households in Makueni County in the year 2010/2011. The results indicate that CDF bursary expenditure on male students should be better targeted for the poor male students to realise progressive distribution.
In order to ascertain the extent of progressiveness and regressiveness of benefit incidence of the CDF spending on education bursaries by sex, concentration
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indices were calculated. The focus was on male and female students separately to determine the degree of inequality or lack of it. Table 4.16 summarises the CDF spending on Education Bursaries concentration indices.
4.16: CDF Spending on Education Bursaries Concentration Indices Concentration index
Male students allocation 0.0293
(0.05)
Female Students Allocation -0.0768
(0.05)
All Students 0.0981
(0.02)
Note. Standard errors are in parenthesis Data Source: Author’s Computation.
The results in table 4.16 support the idea that the allocations to male students were regressive because the sign of the index is positive. The figure of 0.03 shows the extent of regressiveness as compared to neutrality status where the figure would be zero. The extent of regressiveness is low bearing in mind the highest possible figure should be one (1). The standard deviation for male students allocation index is 0.05 reflecting better representation of the overall population.
The allocations to female students were progressive as reflected by the negative sign of the index. The figure of 0.077 shows the extent of progressiveness as compared to neutrality status where the figure would be zero. The extent of progressiveness is not very high since the highest possible figure should be one (1). The standard deviation for female students allocation index is 0.05 reflecting high precision of the results.
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CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
5.1 Introduction
This chapter provides a summary of the study findings and conclusions. Policy implications of the study findings on benefit incidence analysis of constituencies’ development fund spending on education bursaries in Makueni County in Kenya are discussed and policy recommendations made. In addition, limitations of the thesis and the areas for further research are discussed.