An examination into factors affecting sustainability of donor funded community development projects in Bungoma County

Abstract

The role played by donor agencies in improving the living standards of families/households, groups and individuals in developing countries especially in rural areas cannot be underestimated. There has been a significant increase in activities from donor agencies such as Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), Non-Governmental Organizations among others, with regards to funding of various projects especially in rural areas and urban slums where there is limited government support for social services e.g. Health facilities and provision of clean water for domestic use. However, development projects initiated and or funded by these donor agencies perform poorly and many become non-operational on termination of donor support. Despite this problem, no study has been carried out to establish the causes of termination of this donor funded projects, especially after withdrawal of donor support. The objectives of this study were; to find out the extent to which project financial systems affect sustainability of donor funded projects, to establish the effect of technology adoption on the sustainability of donor funded projects, to determine the effect of stakeholders and target groups involvement and participation the sustainability of donor funded projects, to find out the extent to which donor policies affect sustainability of donor funded projects and to establish how the management structures in place affect sustainability of donor funded projects. This poses a gap which this study seeks to fill through an examination of factors that affect sustainability of donor funded projects in rural areas of Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population included managers of donor funded projects in Bungoma County. Data was collected from the sampled respondents using questionnaires as the principal data collection instruments. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used to come up with a representative sample size. After data collection, the researcher analyzed data using descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for generating results. The data was presented in the form of tables, pie charts, bar graphs, frequency distribution tables, percentages and cross-tabulations among others. The study established that project finance system affects project sustainability to a very great extent where auditing was done quarterly. On information technology, the study established that IT affects sustainability of the project to a very great extent and that Accounting systems, records management, communication and technical operations were computerized to assure adequate information. Stakeholders' Involvement in donor funded project affects its sustainability to a very great extent. On donor policy, the study concluded that donor policy affects sustainability of the project at very great extent. Further, the study concluded that democratic management style was more practiced in most of the community development project.