Influence of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation on Performance of Donor Funded Food Security Projects in Kenya: a Case of Kibwezi West Sub-county in Makueni County

Abstract

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation is increasingly becoming a critical tool particularly in the implementation of donor-funded projects. It has become a reality that huge amounts of donor funds are channeled into various food security projects but target communities continue to suffer from the plight hunger, starvation and poverty. This study sought to investigate the influence of participatory monitoring and evaluation on the performance of donor-funded food security projects in Kenya: a case of Kibwezi West Sub-County, Makueni County. The objectives of the study were: to establish the extent to which staff training in PME influences the performance of donor-funded food security projects in Kibwezi West Sub County; to assess the influence of stakeholder engagement in PME on the performance of donor-funded food security projects in Kibwezi West Sub-County to examine the influence of resource allocation in PME on the performance of donor-funded food security projects in Kibwezi West Sub-County; and to investigate the influence of PME results utilization on the performance of donor-funded food security projects in Kibwezi West Sub-County, Makueni county. In this study, the independent variables (IV) were; stakeholder engagement in PME (SE), staff training in PME (ST), resource allocation in PME(RA), and results utilization (RU) in PME. The researcher used descriptive survey design to undertake the study. The target population was one hundred and forty (140) employees working with twenty-four (24) civil society organizations (CSOs) in Kibwezi West Sub-County in Makueni County. A sample size of one hundred and four (104), comprising of 104% of the total population was drawn using probability sampling specifically stratified random sampling method. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Specifically, the researcher used frequencies and percentages as well as measures of central tendency namely mean, and standard deviation. The study established a positive and significant relationship between stakeholder engagement in participatory monitoring and evaluation, staff training in participatory monitoring and evaluation, resource allocation in participatory monitoring and results utilization in participatory monitoring and evaluation and the performance of donor funded food security projects in Kibwezi West Sub-County Makueni County, Kenya. Based on the findings of the study that came from the respondents in the field and the literature review, the researcher recommends that the relevant government bodies, CSOs and other donors, and all the organizations executing these projects must have a specific well-defined source of finance for the PME exercise. Also, enough financial resources should be allocated and the budget allocation process should be effective so as to have the funds availed at the right time and be in the right hands to ensure the PME processes is successful. The researcher recommends that monitoring personnel should be hired, well remunerated and well trained so as to entrench PME within food security projects. The people to be hired must be in any case well trained and have experience in high standard projects PME. Also, they can partner with bodies like professional bodies like PMI and APM to benefit from the best practices on PME. As revealed by this study, looking at how critical PME is in influencing performance of donor funded food security projects, the study recommends that organizations should institutionalize participatory monitoring and evaluation. In addition, create a monitoring and evaluation unit and /or employ monitoring and evaluation officer(s).