Community Participation and Outcomes of Selected Community Based Development Water Projects in the Informal Settlements of Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Wasilwa, Caleb Wafula
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
A great proportion of the population living in urban areas of Kenya especially in Nairobi
City County reside within the informal settlements. These informal settlements are prone
to water related challenges such as failure to access piped and safe water. It is this
situation that has continued to attract attention of governmental and non-governmental
organizations which have kept on supporting water related projects to solve such menace.
Available information revealed that over 50 percent of the water projects within the
informal settlements are non-operational. This is what motivated the study. This study
sought to assess how various factors affect community participation in community based
development water projects in the informal settlements of Nairobi City County and how
such participation impact on the project outcome. The study was guided by two specific
objectives which were to investigate the determinants of community participation in
community based development water projects in Nairobi County and to determine the
effect of community participation on project outcome in community based development
water projects in Nairobi County. Primary cross-sectional data used in this study was
collected using questionnaires administered to 48 respondents selected from three slum
areas of Nairobi County which are Kibra, Mathare and Korogocho. Three water projects,
one from each slum were randomly selected. The logistic regression estimation for
achieving the first objective was conducted using five different levels of participation as
dependent variable. The results showed a negative effect of sex on participation in project
identification; sharing of ideas; deciding on location of the project and monitoring but
positive on labor provision. Age influences all the five participation levels negatively
except labor provision and monitoring. The effect of marital status is only positive on
labor provision but negative to the rest while education has negative effect only on
identification of water project as a need. The number of children has negative effect on
participation at all levels. Moreover, the effect of employment is negative on labor
provision but positive on all other participation levels. In regard to the second objective,
it was noted that training as well as factoring in all ideas of members in decision making
is very influential in ensuring that water projects meet the needs of the community.
Furthermore, the higher the quality of the staff used to implement and manage the
projects, the higher the likelihood of the water projects meeting the needs of the
community.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the Department of Applied
Economics in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for
the Award of the Master of Economics (Cooperation And
Human Development) Degree of Kenyatta University
Keywords
Community Participation, Water Projects, Informal Settlements, Nairobi City County, Kenya