Abstract: Project management is one of strategic competency that enables entities to link project outcomes to it particular objective. Nowadays stakeholders of the rural water project has embarked on a series of projects as part of the sustainable community development hence the primary objective of this study was to determine the influence of project management practices on performance outcomes in rural water projects development in Kenya. The study was guided by four research objectives namely: to determine the influence of project planning process on performance outcomes; to examine the influence of project execution process on performance outcomes; to investigate the influence of monitoring and controlling of projects on performance outcomes; and to establish the influence of project communication processes on performance outcomes in rural water projects development in Kenya. The research employed descriptive survey design. The study targeted 550 household heads within the Matete Sub-County according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2009 census report. Simple random sampling was used to obtain 226 household heads and 22 water users committee representing 22 water sources among the 23 sources deemed to have been constructed within the last 20 years for the administration of questionnaires and interviews respectively. The data from the field were edited for accuracy, completeness, consistency and analyzed using descriptive statistical tools (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences V.17.0 and Excel). From the findings, 67 % of the respondents indicated that project planning influenced project outcome to a very great extent; 44% of the respondents agreed that project execution influenced project outcome to a very great extent; 75 % of the respondents recommended changes to the project monitoring and control procedures to positively influence project outcome. Also, it was established that 55% of the project outcome was influenced by project management processes. The study concluded that there was a significant relationship between project management processes and project outcome. The findings led to the conclusion that execution had the least influence on the project outcome. It was also concluded that the project closure process had the greatest influence on project outcome. The regression model indicated that the project communication process had the largest magnitude.The study recommended that: effective project planning activities to be applied to projects; emphasis be given to implementation activities that will ensure plans are effectively executed in order to fully meet set objectives; introduction of effective monitoring tools; training of staff on use of monitoring tools; use of effective communication; and improved reporting and documentation. Finally, the study recommended that project outcome should be evaluated from the local acceptance and satisfaction perspective
Keywords: project planning, project execution, project monitoring and evaluation and Project communication.
Title: INFLUENCE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES IN RURAL WATER PROJECTS DEVELOPMENT IN KENYA
Author: Nabangi Tiberius Wangila, Dr. Yussuf Mucheule
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
Research Publish Journals
