Influence of Community Participation on Sustainability of County Government Funded Water Projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County Kenya

Abstract

The concept of community participation for any meaningful development in a society cannot be over emphasized. Experts in development opine that in order for projects to succeed, communities need to actively take part in planning, designing, resource mobilizing and shaping the projects that affect them. The biggest problems with most of community project is non-involvement in project management cycle. This study sort to investigate the influence of community participation on sustainability of county government funded water projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The study objectives were as follows; to assess the influence of project identification on sustainability of county government funded water projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County; To establish the influence of project planning on sustainability of county government funded water projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County; To determine the influence of project resource mobilization on sustainability of county government funded water projects in Elgeyo Marakwet, County and To establish the influence of oversight on sustainability of county government funded water projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The study used descriptive survey research design as it provided the study with the needed qualitative data that was instrumental in achieving the findings of the study. The target population was 479 respondents who comprised of County staff (47), community leadership members (379) and Chairpersons of community water project committees (53). Simple random sampling procedure was adopted to determine sample size for the unit of study (community leadership members) who are beneficiaries of the county government funded water projects with purposive sampling procedure being utilized for the key informants (county staff and chairpersons of water project committees) were used for the study. The sample size for the unit of study (community leadership members) was determined using Yamane’s formula of which the sample size was found to be 195 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires for community leadership members and interview schedules for both the water project committee members chairpersons and the County staff. Validity and reliability tests were conducted of which the reliability of the research instrument was found to be 0.856. Quantitative data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Version 20) while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Results of the study were interpreted using descriptive statistics: frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation and percentages as well as inferential statistics, Chi-square test for independence was used to determine the significance influence between variables.The study found out that majority (63.5%) of the community leaders members participated in county government water projects identification, it was further established that there is a significance influence of community participation in identification on sustainability of water projects (x2 =31.657). The study found that 59% of community leadership members participated in project planning of water projects. There is a significant influence of community participation in project planning on sustainability of water projects (x2 =24.224). It was found that 49.3% of community leaders participated in resource mobilization of water projects. There is significant influence of community participation in resource mobilization on sustainability of water projects (x2 =24.224). Finally, it was observed that 42.7% of community leaders participated in oversight of water projects. There is statistical influence of community participation in oversight on sustainability of water projects (x2 =34.214). Therefore, the study recommends that policies should be formulated to ensure that communities are capacitated to participate in identification, planning, resource mobilization and oversight of County funded projects. These will increase community ownership and thus sustainability of the initiated projects.