Influence of project sustainability on performance of community health projects in Githunguri sub-county of Kiambu, Kenya.

Abstract

Project sustainability is an aspiration of every community or regime as a means of ensuring that constructive advances are delivered to the target societies in long term. This phenomenon is brought to attention in this study based on health projects that aim at refining the quality of life of community health projects users. The execution of such projects is at all times easier but their sustainability poses a challenge. The purpose of the study is to establish the influence of project sustainability on the performance of community health projects in Githunguri, sub county of Kiambu, with an aim of making recommendations on proper use of sustainability strategies practices. The first objective of the study was to assess the influence of governance on performance of CHPs in Githunguri sub-county; the second objective was to establish the influence of competence of health workforce on performance of CHPs; the third objective was to determine the influence of accountability to development partners on performance of CHPs; the final objective was to evaluate the influence of stakeholder participation on performance of CHPs in Githunguri sub-county. To achieve this, the researcher reviewed both theoretical and empirical literature, and proposed the research methodology that addressed the gaps identified in literature as well as answer the stipulated research questions. This research study adopted a descriptive survey design approach. The researcher preferred this method because it allowed the study an in-depth study of the subjects. The total population was 108 out of which 85 respondents were selected using stratified sampling and simple random sampling which comprised of community health project staff (Doctors and Administrators), stakeholder representatives (Community Elders) and development partners (Financiers- Direct Aid Program) who were issued with questionnaires. Self-delivered questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The relationship between the dependent variable and the explanatory variables was analyzed using multiple regression model. The data generated was keyed in and analyzed by use of SPSS version 20 to generate information which was presented using illustrations such as charts, frequencies and percentages. The response rate of the study was 90.59%. The findings of the study indicated that governance, competence of health workforce, accountability to development partners and stakeholder participation have a positive relationship with performance of community health projects. The regression results revealed that project sustainability strategies identified in the study could explain approximately 79.5% of the variations in the performance of community health projects. The other 20.5% may be attributed to other strategies not explained by the model or the variables. Finally, the study recommended that community health projects should embrace project sustainability so as to improve their performance and further researches should be carried out on other community health projects to find out if the same results can be obtained.