Kioko,Steven Musyoka2024-09-182024-09-182024-06https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/28810A Research Project Submitted to the School of Law, Arts and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master in Public Policy and Administration of Kenyatta University, June 2024. Supervisor Edna MoiLack of public input in the development planning process may have serious repercussions for County administration. If the public is not actively involved in making decisions, fewer voices will be heard and the interests and goals of certain groups may be neglected. Therefore, County governments have a duty to make every reasonable effort to inform and include as many residents as possible in County development plans. This study intended to access the influence of public participation on County Integrated Development Plan in Kiambu County, Kenya. With this study's findings in hand, policymakers would be able to implement reforms that reflect the ideals of Kenya's new constitution and usher in the desired "people - centered and politically-engaged open society" in the country. The specific objectives of the study included assessing public awareness, public involvement and assess participatory monitoring and evaluation on County Integrated Development Plan in Kiambu County, Kenya. Theories of social capital, stakeholder theory, and civic voluntarism served as the study's theoretical foundations. From a reachable population of 1005 consisting of Members of the County Assembly, officials from the Department of Administration, ward administrators and members of the public, a sample of 285 was selected through a stratified sampling technique. A qualitative and quantitative descriptive research design was employed, where data was collected from the selected participants using a questionnaire. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences tool was utilized to process and analyze the data. This included using percentages, frequencies, means, standard deviations, and regression for both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings show that public awareness, public involvement and participatory monitoring and evaluation influence the County Implementation Development Plan. The study concludes that there is great need for county governments to take into considerations the inputs of the members of public in County Integrated Development Plan, to provide a smooth and meaningful process. The county government should create public awareness on CIDP. Increasing public awareness empowers them to participate at all stages of decision-making. Lack of knowledge on how to participate may hinder individuals from participating, but if people are aware of and understand the processes and intended outcomes, successful public participation is attained. In line with the ethical guidelines, the researcher made some ethical considerations when conducting this research. These included, obtaining approval from the both Kenyatta University and the National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI) to conduct the research. He also ensured that the respondents’ data was protected by ensuring anonymity was observed when answering the questionnaires.enThesis