Influence of women participation in the implementation of health projects a case of county government-funded projects in Buuri sub-county, Meru county, Kenya

Abstract

Women involvement in development is an issue of world concern with a key focus on progress made towards women inclusion (Hart, 2013). With respect to study by (Shah, 2016) progress towards women inclusion in development has faced high opposition at institutional level in entire world. In 2013, devolution was introduced in Kenya with an aim to promote equitable sharing of resources and enhance inclusivity in developments at both County and National levels. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of women involvement in the implementation of health projects in Buuri Sub County, Meru County. The study employed a descriptive research design. The target population of this study included the health care workers in the five wards within Buuri Sub County, who were 1334. The sample population of 400 respondents was finally selected. The research tools used included interview guides for facility heads and self-administered questionnaires for health workers. Reliability was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient and a pilot study conducted in a local health facility among 40 samples. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis while quantitative data was first coded then analyzed using STATA and Excel. Interpretation was then done and findings presented in tables using frequencies and percentages. The study established that women participation in implementation of health projects depended on their leadership skills, personal characteristics, management skills and their attitude towards the project. Leadership was found to be based on one’s accountability, commitment to work, level of honesty and trustworthiness. The study also established the women personal characteristics with significant association with implementation of health projects as education level, marital status, income level, age, employer, position at workplace and duration of employment at p<0.001. The study also reported the ability to make wise decision to be a key factor in defining one’s management skills at (SD=102.89; 72%) followed by ability to communicate effectively at (SD=100.60; 67%) and lastly one’s ability to plan effectively at (SD=79.06; 57%). Finally the study established attitude to be based on one’s feeling on project’s role in development, project being sustainable or not, willingness to be engaged in implementation and how one’s view on prevalent implementation process. The study lead to a conclusion that the influence of women participation in implementation of health projects had some confounding factors. The following recommendations were made: leadership skills should be based on one’s age and any occasion in life where he assumed a leadership role, Personal characteristics should be on basis of the job type, her specific role and presence of relevant hands on skills; management skills should be with key consideration of the working environment and motivation support; and decision on who to be engaged and where should consider the culture of the women in question and the culture of the society where the project is to be executed. More research on influence of women participation in implementation of other health projects in other sub counties is needed.