Factors Influencing The Implementation Of Urban Strategic Development Plans In Kenya

Abstract

Development planning in the urban areas in Kenya has taken a paradigm shift over the past decade especially after the enactment of the new constitution in 2010. This study sought to investigate the factors affecting the implementation of urban strategic development plans in Kenya. Findings from various studies have indicated that many organizations have slowly embraced strategic planning but the implementation of the same remains a challenge, resulting in well-formulated plans that fail at the implementation stage. The study was carried out in Kapsabet town, Nandi County. The objectives of the study revolved around the influence of project team, top leadership support, stakeholder involvement and resource allocation on the implementation of the Urban Strategic Development Plans in Kenya. A sample size of 118 respondents was obtained from a population of 170 using Krejcie and Morgan method. The respondents mainly came from the county Departments of Planning, Devolved Units & Special Programmes, Infrastructure, professionals and stakeholders. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data and the return rate was 95.8%. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistical methods. The study also adopted a descriptive analysis where descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to describe the basic features of the data and to provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures. From the study, 66.4% of the respondents agreed that resource allocation is crucial to implementation of urban strategic development plans. In addition, another 53.1% stated that top leadership should support the implementation of the strategic development plan by ensuring that it provides strategic leadership to the project team. Further to that, it emerged that though the composition of the project team is important in the implementation of the strategic development plan, without support from other factors this might not help much. Similarly, involving all the stakeholders positively affects the implementation of the strategic development plan as 67.3% of the respondents attested. The research findings and recommendations are useful in assisting the town managers across the country, the County Governments and all the stakeholders to take measures geared towards improving the implementation of urban strategic development plan and the realization of the vision and mission statements of the towns.