Strategic Management Practices and Perfomance of Agricultural Non – Governmental Organisations (Ngos) in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The need for sophisticated Strategic Management (SM) practices by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is unavoidable attributed limited resources and scrutiny by the host government and donors. Therefore, this study sought to investigate SM practices and performance of agricultural NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya with specific objectives of determining the SM practices adopted by NGOs, challenges faced by the NGOs in applying the SM practices and the relationship between the SM practices on the performance of the NGOs. To complete these objectives, the study took on a descriptive research design that is attributed to its broad application in planning, monitoring, and evaluating policies to gather data from fifteen (15) agricultural NGOs operating from Nairobi, Kenya. Open and close-ended questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The analysis of the quantitative data was limited to descriptive statistics using statistical package for social science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel package for presentation of the data in charts and figures. Qualitative data was presented through narration. It was established that over 60 % of the NGOs had established strategic plan. The objectives and the mission statements were to great extent likely to be practiced with mean values of over 3.5 on a 1-5 point likert scale. The NGOs faced challenges of inadequate personnel and elaborate communication system to little extend on a 1-5 point likert scale. The results indicated a significant and progressive relationship between the SM practices and performance of the NGOs alluded from Pearson Correlation Coefficient with P values of < 0.01 at 99 % confidence interval. This contributed to better understanding of SM practices by policy makers and host government for SM improvement as well as streamlining the NGOs activities for increased funding and accountability. Key words: NGOs, Strategic Management (SM), monitoring, donors, policies