Investigating Major Drivers of Performance in Commmunity Water Projects: a Case of Water Projects in Saku Sub County, Marsabit County, Kenya

Abstract

Community Water projects are designed and planned for a certain period of time called gestation period after which major project activities come to an end where the community is expected to take over and run the project making them self-sustaining in the long run. These projects undergo some problems which if not taken care of jeopardize their completion and performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the major drivers of performance in community water projects – a caseof water projects in Saku sub county, Marsabit County, Kenya. The study investigated; the role of management planning, availability of funding, community participation and projects governance policies on performance of community water projects in Saku Sub County. The study usedCommunity Development theories’ and adopted a descriptive research design. The target population for this study was 106 stakeholders of community water projects which are funded by County Government in partnership with NGO’s, NG-CDF, FBO’S and the community in Saku sub county, Marsabit County. Stratified sampling methods were used for the selection of the 84 study respondents. The research made use of questionnaires in the gathering of primary data. Data wasanalyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 25.0). Referencing of all received questionnaires was done and coding of questionnaire items was done for facilitating data entry. After data cleaning which entailed checking for errors in entry, descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean score and standard deviation was estimated for all the quantitative variables and information presented inform of tables. The qualitative data from the open-ended questions wasanalyzed using thematic content analysis and presented in narrative form. Inferential data analysis was done using multiple regression analysis. The research found that stakeholder involvement and planning all levels of project implementation influence performance of community water projects in Saku Sub County in Marsabit County, Kenya to a great extent. The study further found that trained, adequate human resource influence performance of community water projects in Saku Sub County to a very great extent. The research found that frequency of meetings; project ownership; and level of involvement influence performance of community water projects in Saku Sub County to a great extent. The study concluded that management planning had the greatest influence on performance of community water projects in Saku Sub County, followed by funding, then project governing policies while community participation had the least influence on the performance of community water projects in Saku Sub County. The study recommends that there should be incorporation of planning at all levels of the project cycle and review of the same in order to ensure that the project is on the right path and inclusive planning which should involve all the stakeholders. The study further suggests that the government develops mechanisms to curb corruption occurrences especially in the face of project implementation.