Project Implementation Process, Monitoring and Evaluation Practices and Performance of Hybrid Sweet Potato Projects in Kenya: a Case of Nakuru County.

Abstract

Hybrid sweet potatoes have been a target crop in improving the livelihoods of farming communities through diverting and aiming to produce the crop for subsistence and for commercial purposes, however, this is still far from being realized. The crop is mostly produced by farmers in the sub-county for subsistence purposes by a big percentage of the peasants. Currently; efforts to raise awareness in the crop to be embraced by all stakeholders in the agricultural sector as a commercial crop are still low with most of them unaware of such initiatives. This study therefore sought to establish the influence of project implementation process on performance of hybrid sweet potato projects in Kenya: A case of Njoro Sub-County, Nakuru County, and the moderating effect of monitoring and evaluation practices on the relationship between the two variables. The study also sought to examine how capacity building, stakeholder’s engagement and utilization of extension services influence the performance of hybrid sweet potato projects in Njoro sub-County. The study further sought to establish the combined influence of project implementation process on performance of hybrid sweet potato projects in Njoro sub-County; to determine the extent to which monitoring and evaluation practices influence performance of hybrid sweet potato projects in Njoro sub-County; and to establish the moderating effect of project monitoring and evaluation practices on the relationship between project implementation and performance of hybrid sweet potato projects in Njoro sub-County. The study was grounded on; stakeholder’s theory; resource dependency theory; innovation adoption theory, diffusion of innovations theory, theory of collective action and structural-functional theory. The philosophical underpinning of this study was pragmatism where a mixed method approach was used in a descriptive survey study design. The target population of this study were respondents from the three strata of 951 respondents; namely 909 farmers in hybrid sweet potato projects in Njoro Sub-County, 36 extension service providers in Njoro Sub-County and 6 plant breeders at Kenya Agricultural research organization at Njoro. The sample size was determined using Slovin’s Formula by John Wily and Son’s. To sample the target population, cluster sampling technique was used that divided the main population into three sections (clusters) where samples were put into a sampling frame. Simple random technique was used to draw samples independently from each stratum. The sample size of this study was 282 respondents comprising of 264 hybrid sweet potato farmers, 12 extension service providers and 6 plant breeders. Data collection instruments included self-administered questionnaires and structured interview guide. A pilot study was conducted in a neighbouring Sub-County named Molo to test the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Qualitative data was analyzed by the use of thematic analysis and the results presented in prose form. Descriptive data was analyzed by using frequencies and percentages and presented in a table. Both the arithmetic mean and standard deviation were used as statistical tools to measure central tendency and dispersion respectively, while the statistical tools for inferential analysis was Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation. Regression analysis was used to test the strength of these relationships and F-test to study the hypotheses. Hierarchical Regression two (R2) was used to analyze the influence of moderating variable on the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable. The study established that overall; on regression r=0.225 implies a positive slope between the independent variable (Combined influence of project implementation process) and the dependent variable (Performance of hybrid sweet potato projects). R- Squared was 0.051 meaning that 5.1% of the variation in the performance of hybrid sweet potato projects was explained by variation in the combined influence of project implementation process. ANOVA results indicated that the model was statistically significant at (F (1,253) = 1.192). The results indicate that p=0.000<0.05, r=0.225 and R square = 0.051. Since the overall F xvi statistics was (F (1,253) = 1.192) this study established that there exists a positive correlation and the slope of the population regression line is not zero. Hence, based on these findings we reject the null hypotheses that there is no significant relationship between the combined influence of project implementation process and performance of hybrid sweet potato projects in Njoro Sub County. The study concluded that it is critical to consider; Capacity building, stakeholders’ engagement and utilization of extension services in hybrid sweet potato projects. The study also concludes that it is critical to consider project monitoring and evaluation practices in hybrid sweet potato projects. The study recommends that Stakeholders should be involved adequately in monitoring and evaluation activities and that their engagement should be in both lower and higher level activities from the initial to the last project stage. This would ensure project ownership and relevance to the beneficiary needs. Organization leaders should take active part in designing monitoring and evaluation system in order to offer timely support and guidance to projects’ staff. This will also ensure that monitoring and evaluation activities are well executed, findings communicated for effective decision making. The use of formal collaboration methods among private and public ESPs could lead to a more vibrant interaction and avoid repetition of project implementation labors. This enhanced partnership and interacting amid extension and other service providers in hybrid sweet potato project implementation process should result in high appreciation of their position, inject more energy and increase their confidence in a consistent planning agenda.