Influence of project management skills on implementantion of constituency development fund projects: a case of public secondary schools in Cherangany constituency, Kenya

Abstract

The main purpose of CDF is to foster rural development from the grass root level with school projects among the major focus. However, reports indicate that majority of CDF projects in Cherangany Constituency fail in the course of implementation among them being school projects. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of project management skills on implementation of CDF projects in Cherangany constituency. The study focused on establishing how cost management skills, team management, risk management and finally time management skills influences implementation of CDF projects with respect to cost, budget and quality. A descriptive survey research design was used. 59 principles made up the sample from a total population of 73 principals in Cherangany constituency. Purposive sampling was used to determine the respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The study assumed a linear regression analysis at 5% significance level to ascertain the relationship of the variables. The findings indicated that cost management skills, team management skills and risk management skills had a positive and significant influence on implementation of CDF projects in public secondary schools in Cherangany Constituency. The study findings also revealed that time management skills had a positive but insignificant effect on the implementation of CDF projects in Cherangany Constituency. The study findings recommend that policy makers in both CDF and education sector should give avenues for school principals to refresh and sharpen their project management skills. There is need for project administrators to put focus on both intrinsic and financial motivation of the project teams. Curriculum developers and project sponsors should also educate project implementers on risk management skills and proper documentation for effective risk mitigation. Finally, project implementers should be trained on proper schedule development and control of activity durations for effective time management. Since the findings of this study only accounts for 41.6% of the variations of implementation of CDF projects in public secondary schools, this study recommends further investigation to be done on project management skills that have not been covered in this study like scope, quality and monitoring and evaluation management.