Influence of the Vetting Process on Effective Utilization of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in Kenya: A Survey of Gilgil Sub County, Kenya

To caution the youths from the rising unemployment rates, the government of Kenya introduced the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) to allow them access low interest rate loans. Nevertheless, government statistics indicates that over 40% of the disbursed loans are none performing compared to 8% of none performing loans disbursed by banks. Thus this study aimed at establishing how pre-financing vetting process affects effective utilization of government funded youth projects in Kenya. It was carried out in Gilgil Sub-County, Kenya. The guiding objective was effects of vetting process on the effective youth fund utilization. The target population was youth groups that had accessed the YEDF and the YEDF officers. The study adopted explanatory research design with a sample size of 66 youth groups. Data was collected using interview schedules and questionnaires. Analysis entailed descriptive statistics, multiple response analysis, correlation analysis and thematic analysis. The study found out that there is no correlation between the vetting process and effective utilization of funds. The study recommends that YEDF should improve the vetting process to ensure that there is more accountability among youths on funds disbursed.