Community Capacity Development and Sustainability of County Government-Funded Water Projects in Makueni County, Kenya
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Date
2021
Authors
Mulei, Benson M.
Gachengo, Lydia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Academic Journals
Abstract
The research project aimed to study
community capacity development's
influence on project sustainability in
Kilome Sub-County, Makueni County,
Kenya. People in the county walk
approximately eight kilometers to access
water compared to the WHO
recommended one kilometer. Though most
development agencies have developed
tools and techniques to track project
implementation and meet its key
constraints, few organizations produce
periodic assessment reports on the
operation, maintenance, and on whether
projects are essentially generating the
anticipated benefits. In Kenya, twenty-five
to thirty percent of community-managed
water projects will be non-operational in
the first three years after completion. The
research project focused on investment in
community capacity and community
organizing parameters of community
capacity development to determine their
influence on water projects' overall
sustainability in the county. The research
project used stakeholders’ and resource
dependency theories to provide
background on the application of
community capacity development in
project management to ensure project
sustainability. The research project
employed probability and a clustersampling technique to divide the subcounty into geographical clusters called
sub wards and randomly collected data
from the respondents in the clusters. The
research project targeted a sample
population of a hundred and fourteen
PMCs and five project staff of the
respective projects. The research project
used a single designed tool to collect
qualitative and quantitative research data
for each specific project. Descriptive
analysis design was used to analyze data
into quantifiable information from the
sample and reporting on the results of the
research project. The study findings found
that investment in community capacity and
community organizing parameters of
community capacity development had a
direct relationship with the sustainability
of Makueni County Government-funded
water projects. The results showed a
significant positive relationship between
community capacity development
parameters and project sustainability with
a significance value of 0.000, p<0.05. The
parameters influenced project
sustainability by 55.7%, with a standard
error estimate of 0.4313. Investment in
community capacity influenced project
sustainability by 0.375, while community
organizing by 0.499. The study
recommends that development agencies
establish new or strengthen the existing
water user groups and strengthen the skills
of the community in project management.
The agencies should also involve
community VMGs, community member
experts, and partner/support with local
institutions to enhance project performance
in the long run. That will ensure the
continuity of the project into the future,
way after the donor exit.
Description
An Article Published in International Academic Journal of Information Sciences and Project Management
Keywords
Project sustainability, Community capacity development, Investment in community capacity, Community organizing, Project agency, Kenya
Citation
Mulei, B. M., Gachengo, L. (2021). Community capacity development and sustainability of county government-funded water projects in Makueni County, Kenya. International Academic Journal of Information Sciences and Project Management, 3(6), 419- 442.