Influence of Capacity-Building Strategies on Effective Implementation of Devolution: A Case of Mombasa County Government Kenya

Capacity-building is about human resource development, the development of the organization, and promoting the occurrence of an overall policy environment that is conducive to the generation of suitable responses to emerging needs. Devolution is a structure in which some government powers are exercised by the counties through institutes elected by their people. According to studies on the role of human resources in the implementation of devolution, most of the County officers lack training, both Technical and experiential, since most of them have been brought on board as politically correct individuals; hence, it becomes hard to apprehend them in the event of failure to perform. Human resource development, being one major strategy of capacity-building, leaves a major research gap that needs to be filled. Therefore, the researcher carried out an assessment of capacity-building strategies adopted by the county government in the implementation of devolution by intending to establish the influence of Human resource development techniques on the implementation of devolution. The study was confined to Mombasa County and, specifically, the Mombasa County government. The study concentrated on managerial staff within the Mombasa County government, comprising 248 individuals across 13 departments. Employing a descriptive survey research design, the researcher employed measurement techniques involving inquiries to respondents. This choice was informed by the necessity to gauge perspectives and opinions. Specifically, the focus on managerial personnel was imperative due to their pivotal role in effecting organizational change within the county administration. Stratified sampling was employed to increase the accuracy of the results. The employees in each managerial position, per department, were considered as strata in itself, and then a random sample was selected in each department (strata). The researcher selected a sample of 30% from each department. A questionnaire was used for data collection. The research instrument was piloted on a small representative sample identical to but not including the group that was in the actual study. Content validity was applied to test whether the instruments were able to answer the research questions. Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient was used to measure the internal consistency of the research instruments. Descriptive statistical analysis was done using frequencies and percentages to describe the basic characteristics of the data. The findings indicate that capacity-building strategies significantly affect the successful execution of devolution in Mombasa County. The study underscores the pivotal role of such strategies and recommends their facilitation to enhance devolution implementation in the county.