ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTIONS TO SUPPORT FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN KENYA

Abstract

Governments have the cardinal responsibility to ensure food security and nutritional provisions to its citizens since
this has direct effects on the social and economic stability of a country. Food security is a measure of the existence
of physical and economic access to enough, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs. The four pillars of food
security include availability, ease of access, proper utilization, and long-term stability. There has been a lot of
research on food security, but there is scarce empirical evidence on assessment of the ability of the human resource
to support the delivery of the food security agenda. The paper is based on a study that assessed knowledge, skills
and competency gaps and identified interventions needed to support the achievement of the big four agenda on food
security and nutrition in Kenya was assessed. The work environment factors that affect employee capacity to deliver
were delineated and the extent to which the legal, policy and regulatory framework on human resource capacity
building supports the achievement of food security and nutrition in Kenya. The descriptive research design targeted
a purposively sample of 8 counties with 222 respondents who completed a self-administered questionnaire. The
SPSS software generated descriptive statistics and graphical representations, while the qualitative data was analyzed
to reveal emerging thematic issues. The study concluded that knowledge skills, competencies; policies, legal and
regulatory framework and the work environment all had a positive effect on the ability to deliver the food security
and nutrition mandate. The government should develop policies that support retooling and reskilling of employees in
value addition, climate smart agriculture, post-harvest management and resource mobilization