MST-Department of Management Science

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Browsing MST-Department of Management Science by Subject "Agriculture Projects"

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    Monitoring and Evaluation Practices and Performance of Agriculture Projects in Makueni County Kenya.
    (kenyatta university, 2023) Kihiu, Anthony Ndirangu; Lucy Ngugi
    Projects are crucial vehicles used by policy makers and donors in development across the globe. In the last few years, government and donors have established Agricultural Programs in a bid to address food security issues. Unfortunately, the performance of these projects has been wanting; it is normal for projects to be finished late and overspending plan by up to 50 percent- 100 percent while others don’t meet the targets, this is despite some of them having monitoring and evaluation practices in place. The purpose of this study was to examine how performance of agricultural influence monitoring and assessment practices on projects in Makueni County. This study was specifically to determine how planning for M & E, involvement of stakeholders in M & E, capacity building for M & E and management of data for M & E impact agricultural projects performance in Makueni County. It was based on the program theory, contingency hypothesis, stewardship theory and the human capital theory, with the survey design being descriptive survey study. The target population of this study comprised fourteen agricultural projects implemented by various organizations in Makueni County with 125 respondents consisting of project field officers, M & E officers & program managers involved in M&E activities. Morgan and Krejcie (1970) sampling was used which arrived at 94 respondents. Self- administered questionnaires were utilized to get essential information and Statistics software (Version 21 of SPSS.0) was adopted to examine the information gathered. Descriptive statistics was adopted to examine quantitative data, these included computation of means, frequencies, rates, and standard deviation. The data collected utilizing open ended questionnaire was analyzed thematically and results were presented in prose form. Multivariate regression analysis aided in examining inferential data. Diagnostic tests were used to evaluate the model's significance, such as Normality Test, Multicollinearity Test, Correlation Analysis and Homoscedasticity (homogeneity of variance), with the outcomes presented in tables. The study established that adequate budget for M & E improved project performance and having M & E work plans and frameworks that guides the M & E work has an influence on project performance, comprehensive stakeholder engagement at a deeper level in M & E activities results in improved project performance, while conducting trainings with relevant course content for staff as regards the M & E activities resulted in improved project performance and capacity needs assessment done for project staff in the area of M & E influenced performance of project. Monitoring & evaluation findings leads to better project performance and a well- defined plan for data dissemination to all stakeholders results in improved project performance. Also, the study also established a statistical and significant link among planning, stakeholders’ engagement, capacity building and data management in regards to performance of Agricultural projects in Makueni County, Kenya, consequently, the projects were completed in time and within set budget promoting the attainment of project targets hence the community who are the beneficiaries were happy. The research concluded that engaging top management in monitoring and evaluation can enhance project performance and participation of project stakeholders in the monitoring and evaluation process is crucial as it can lead to not only timely completion of project but being successful completed as well promoting the community who are beneficiaries being happy. The study recommended that having adequate budget for monitoring and evaluation and proving the staff with training and conducting collaborative evaluations in addition to, routine supervision and staff training on M & E during project life could enhance agriculture project performance in Makueni County, in addition, there needs to be in time and within set budget project implementation to promote project targets attainment which in turn enhances the community who are the beneficiaries being happy as the project outcomes is good