The integration of local and international cultures enhances people’s ability to adapt to external influences of sustainable aid and sustainable development programs and processes. The study was conducted in Turkana, where government intervention on projects was made with deliberate efforts to implement inclusive development projects. Traditionally Turkana society has well-defined gender roles that appear to contradict inclusive and participatory approaches determined by government projects and interventions. The study sought to establish a legitimate influence on youth participation and to assess the impact of cultural norms on youth participation in community projects. The study used a descriptive design and targeted 47,359 young people. The study used Krejecie and Morgan’s table and an equally divided sample procedure to obtain a sample of 381 respondents in the study. Research has shown that educated youth will speak well and seek citizenship, and show that the standard of formal education is negatively correlated (-0251) with youth participation in project planning and community development projects (-0.094) respectively, barriers to youth participation in project planning are not limited to learning and training. Therefore political, institutional, financial and technical factors played out in determining whose voice is heard and which decisions are acceptable. There was an inconsistent balance (-0.109) between gender roles and participation in community project planning meetings and gender issues consideration in community projects, respectively. A negative correlation (-0.14) between age and meeting planning has been revealed which means that the patriarchal values system in rural areas favours gender roles and traditional cultural practices that oppose the development, advancement and participation of women in community development.
The interplay of local and international cultures enhances people’s ability to adapt to external influences of sustainable action that can support sustainable global development programs and processes. Traditionally, Turkana society has well-defined gender roles that appear to contradict inclusive and participatory approaches determined by government projects and interventions. Furthermore, young people are looking for more economic opportunities and more property rights; however, their participation in community development projects remains low compared to that of older people. The study sought to assess the influence of culture on youth participation in community development projects. Data were collected from a sample of 381 respondents using descriptive design research methods. The study revealed that gender roles and hierarchical interpersonal relationships in the local community are major impediments towards community participation in development projects. The author recommends that the central role of youth in participatory planning should be promoted through the creation of enabling environments that would adopt a holistic approach to addressing the political and sociocultural needs of the youth
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.