Cultural Heritage Preservation through Ushanga Initiative Cooperatives in Narok County, Kenya.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58547/4macsr57Keywords:
Cultural Heritage, Cooperatives, Preservation, Ushanga InitiativeAbstract
Beadwork sector has evolved into a vibrant cottage industry that not only preserves the cultural heritage but also serves as a source of income and job creation. Cooperatives playing a key role in community empowerment, little research has explored their contribution to cultural and creative sectors. Ushanga initiative cooperatives showcase strong potential in harnessing cultural innovation, yet the link between cooperatives and cultural heritage preservation remains under-examined in both academic and cooperative circles. This study investigated how cooperatives, particularly Ushanga initiative cooperatives, contribute to preserving and promoting cultural heritage within communities. The paper is anchored under social capital theory and collective action theory. The study adopted descriptive research design. Five Ushanga cooperatives with a membership of 1400 were purposively selected from the twenty (20) registered cooperatives due to their active participation and high membership. Simple random sampling procedure was used select 300 active members. Six key informants were purposively selected. From the study results females dominated in the Ushanga initiative cooperatives with a representation of (91.80%). This is an indication that beadwork enterprise is predominantly undertaken by females. On cultural heritage preservation the findings show strong participation in training, sustainable practices, income generation and use of traditional designs, but weaker performance in cultural events and institutional partnerships. The findings also indicate cooperative have been used to transfer skills and knowledge to young generation members as well as show casing their work as a marketing strategy thus promoting cultural heritage. Ushanga initiative cooperatives not only promote economic empowerment but also cultural resilience. The study comes to the conclusion that bolstering cooperative frameworks can be a successful cultural preservation tactic and suggest policy assistance to increase their influence among indigenous groups.
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