Abstract: For a long time, the Catholic Church, Nakuru Diocese has been facing the challenge of not achieving intended goals of their projects due to the over runs in time and budgets in most Catholic Churches’ projects, it become necessary to examine the influence of project management practices on project outcomes at catholic churches. The study was therefore carried out to establish the influence of stakeholders’ participation on project outcomes at Catholic Churches Nakuru diocese, Nakuru County, Kenya. This study employed descriptive survey design. The target population comprised three projects, that is; rehabilitation of street children project, (Mwangaza street children rehabilitation project), Rehabilitation of commercial sex workers project (Women of destiny) and Integrated programs for the handicapped with a total of 162 staff including project management staff, project non-management staff and Church project planning and Development office staff. The research utilized stratified random sampling to select a sample size of 115 respondents. Structured Questionnaires were used to collect information from the sampled respondents. Data collected was checked for completeness and thereafter coded and entered into SPSS version 22 for analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. For descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentages were employed while for inferential analysis bivariate Pearson correlation coefficient and Multi regression analysis were used. Correlation analysis showed that the stakeholder involvement was significant and positively correlated with project outcomes at at catholic churches in Nakuru county, Kenya. The positive correlations suggest that when management of projects improved stakeholder involvement, the project outcomes improved in terms of performance indicators beneficiary satisfaction. The study therefore concludes that project stakeholder involvement has a significant influence on project outcomes and if improved, the project outcomes should improve in a positive way. The study recommends that Management of church projects should ensure they provide an opportunity for different stakeholders to participate in the project. The stakeholders need to feel that their opinions are included in the final decisions making process. Stakeholders like project beneficiaries, project staff and local leadership are very important groups whose contribution is priceless in the efforts to ensure project performs as expected and achieves the set goals.
Keywords: Stakeholder Participation, Project Outcome, Project Management Practice.
Title: Stakeholders’ Participation and Project Outcomes of Selected Projects at Catholic Churches in Nakuru County, Kenya
Author: James Kagunya, Dr. Kirui Caleb
International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations
ISSN 2348-7585 (Online)
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