COMMUNICATING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMMES TO YOUTH: THE CASE OF KENYA COMMERCIAL BANK’S 2JIAJIRI YOUTH EMPOWERMRNT PROGRAMME

ABSTRACT
The study investigated the communication of corporate social responsibility programmes focusing on Kenya Commercial Bank’s 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme. The objectives for the study were: to assess the communication strategies used to engage the youth about Kenya Commercial Bank’s 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme, to determine the youth’s level of awareness about Kenya Commercial Bank’s 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme and to establish the perceptions of the youth on the communication of Kenya Commercial Bank’s 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme. The study was grounded on situational theory of publics. Descriptive survey design was used and utilised both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Questionnaires, interviews and content analysis were used as data collection methods. The study population comprised 1,640 youth in youth groups and 11 key informants. The study sample size comprised 246 youth and 7 key informants. Simple random, purposive and census sampling techniques were used to obtain the sample size. Further, quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and presented in form figures and frequency tables. Qualitative data was manually analysed from interview notes and organised into themes and presented in narrative form. The study established use of workshops, mentorship forums, publications, events, website, documentaries, branded merchandises and exhibitions as communication strategies to engage youth about the programme by Kenya Commercial Bank were appropriate, there was low level of awareness about the 2jiajiri programme among the youth due to insufficient information and lastly, the study established that there was inadequate communication about 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme to youth in the community. Based on the findings, the study recommended that: the bank should utilise alternative communication strategies appropriately to engage youth, the bank should increase awareness level of 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme among the youth by providing more information about the programme and the bank’s communication about 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme to you should be adequate and constant thus positive perceptions. The study recommends that a similar study should be conducted focusing on other counties using different methodology and the methodology employed by the researcher in this study as well in order to compare its consistency and accuracy. Further, there is need for a study on 2jiajiri youth empowerment programme involving employees in the communication department in order to provide an insight into different perspectives in regard to the communication of its programmes.