Routine Program Monitoring and Performance of Educational Building Infrastructural Projects: A Case of Bungoma County, Kenya.

Abstract

Monitoring and evaluation as a subject faces diverse understanding from different people and has been evolving progressively over the last quarter. One of the early definitions for monitoring and evaluation was contained in the guiding principles for the design and use of M&E in rural development programs. At that time, M&E were seen primarily as projectrelated activities. Monitoring was defined as a continuous assessment of both the project activities and of the use of Abstract: Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are at the center of sound governance arrangements globally, regionally, nationally and locally as well. They are necessary for the achievement of evidence-based policy making, budget decisions, management, and accountability. However, there is limited focus on utilization of M&E systems and performance of educational building infrastructural projects in Bungoma County. The purpose of this study was to examine utilization of monitoring and evaluation systems and performance of educational building infrastructural projects. To achieve this purpose, the study endeavored to determine the influence of routine program monitoring on performance of educational building infrastructural projects. The study was grounded in the systems theory and guided by pragmatism paradigm. The study used descriptive survey research design and correlation research design. The target population consisted of 20 implementation committee members at the county level, 120 NG-CDF implementation committee members, 6 implementation committee members from the national ministry of education making the target population of 152. The sample size consisted of 110 respondents sampled by sampling each of the targeted strata. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules as research instruments. Both Qualitative and Quantitative data was collected and analyzed. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. While Qualitative data was analyzed using patterns features and themes. Ftest was used to test the hypothesis. Analysis showed that performance of educational building infrastructural projects positively correlates with routine program monitoring (r = 0.856, p< 0.05). The study showed that Routine Programme Monitoring (F = 320.41, p < 0.05) significantly determines (R 2 = 0.7334) the performance of the projects with an effect size (β3= 0.856, p < 0.05). The findings therefore rejected the H0, and the study concluded that Routine Programme Monitoring significantly influences the performance of educational building infrastructural projects in Bungoma county. Based on the findings, the study recommends that implementation committees to consist of more youthful minds for purposes of innovations and use of new technologies and more focus be put on building their capacity for M&E function.