Abstract: The sustainability of projects is a never ending preoccupation for all organisations given that it is the life-blood of the same projects. This is particularly so for projects undertaken for the benefit of rural communities. In order to ensure the sustainability of the projects, it is imperative that such communities need to take active participation in the projects. On the other hand the organisations running the projects need to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation so as to determine the impact of their initiatives. This study sought to investigate the influence of participatory monitoring and evaluation on the sustainability of community based projects in Kenya. The Samburu Vigurungani Water Project (SVWP) is located in Kwale District specifically Samburu, Makamini and Puma locations. The specific objectives of the study included: to determine the influence of participatory appraisal on the sustainability of community based projects in Kenya; to establish the influence of participatory planning and project design on the sustainability of community based projects in Kenya; to find out the influence of participatory baseline data collection on the sustainability of community based projects in Kenya; and to ascertain the influence of feedback and participatory decision-making on the sustainability of community based projects in Kenya.. The study was limited to the Samburu-Vigurungani Water Project. The target population was 300 members of the community from the three locations (Samburu, Makamini and Puma) and 9 staff of the implementing organization. This study applied a descriptive research design because it attempted to describe the attributes of individuals and groups at the Samburu-Vigurungani Water Project as clearly as possible focusing on what was to be measured, the measurement methods, and defining the target population. This study coded the data in a form that was more easily understood by applying a Likert Scale. It then used SPSS (version 20) to conduct regression analysis, descriptive data analysis using measures of central tendency such as standard deviation and mean. The presentation of the results was then done using a combination of graphs and tables. The results from the descriptive statistics indicated that the majority of respondents felt that their organisations had effectively applied the various aspects of participatory monitoring and evaluation. Nonetheless, the most influential aspects of PM&E for community based projects were Participatory Planning, followed by Participatory Baseline Data Collection, Feedback and Participatory Decision Making and Participatory Appraisal, respectively. Additionally, the respondents agreed that the sustainability of community based projects had been conducted appropriately. According to the Pearson Correlation Coefficients, all the independent variables have influenced the dependent variable positively. The multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the results explained 71.9% of the variation in the Sustainability of Community Based Projects whenever there was a one percent change in the four independent variables. Further, according to the ANOVA statistics, there is a significant relationship between all the independent variables and the dependent variable; while the p-value implied that there is a statistically significant relationship between all the independent variables and Sustainability of Community Based Projects which demonstrated the goodness of fit of the model. The study recommended that community based organisations should focus their efforts on the incorporation of budgets in the appraisal plans by involving representatives of the intended beneficiary communities in the initial budgetary discussions so as to better understand the priority items that need to be included in the budget. Additionally, the organisations should improve their involvement of community members in the data collection exercise as a form of triangulation so as to enhance the credibility of the findings.
Keywords: The author gives 4 – 10 keywords which are related to the major part of their research work.
Title: INFLUENCE OF PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY BASED PROJECTS IN KENYA; A CASE OF SAMBURU-VIGURUNGANI WATER PROJECT, KWALE COUNTY
Author: Rose Mwikali Mutiso, Dr Jane Omwenga
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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