The Role of International Donor Funding on Poverty Reduction in the Global South: A Case of World Vision’s Interventions in Machakos County, Kenya
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Date
2025-06
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Many countries in the Global South, such as Kenya, are dependent on international donor funding for their development and growth, largely due to social, political as well as economic challenges facing both the citizens of developing countries and their governments. Guided by Bourdieu and Zanotti-Karp’s Structuralism theory, this study utilized three research questions that sought to examine: the socio-economic conditions of beneficiaries; pre-donor funding; interventions employed by the international donor in the target area; and the socio-economic conditions of beneficiaries’ post-intervention. The research adopted qualitative methods of data collection and utilized a descriptive cross-sectional research design in collecting qualitative data from World Vision Kenya staff in Machakos County and beneficiaries of three of their projects. In collecting data, this study utilized open-ended interviews and unstructured questionnaires with open-ended as well as closed questions. Data was cleaned up and analysed through thematic content analysis. This study established that while the State is charged with causing development of its citizens in the international system, attainment of this mandate has been hindered in the Global South by inadequate resources at the disposal of governments, forcing their citizens to struggle with access to basic needs, including water, food, and social health. This study also found that international donors, through their interventions, play an important role in filling this developmental gap in the Global South, and that throughout the process, the State remains an important actor as an enabler and stakeholder. For donor interventions to be meaningful, this study established that donors must consider sustainability, proper stakeholder involvement, and capacity building of their projects. In the end, this study found that international donor funding is not sustainable in reducing poverty in the Global South because most of their interventions are short-lived and lack sustainability budgets. On the basis of this finding, this study concluded that the State is the only effective guarantor of sustainable development and poverty reduction in the Global South. This study additionally recommends feasibility in donor interventions in line with available funding and project timelines, to avoid stalled projects. Further study recommends deeper consideration of sustainability and improved communication in donor interventions, between the State and beneficiaries, to promote the sustainability of poverty reduction interventions in the Global South.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Law, Arts and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy of Kenyatta University, June 2025.
Supervisor
Joseph Wasonga