Monitoring and Evaluation Practices, Community Participation and Performance of Public Funded Health Facilities Construction Projects in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

Abstract

After enacting the new Kenya Constitution in 2010, the implementation of all public funded health facilities construction project was devolved to the counties, and hence county governments were to plan and execute development projects as independent organisations. To improve the performance of the projects, the counties were expected to embrace monitoring and evaluation, while incorporating community participation. In Kirinyaga County, only a few planned health facilities projects were successfully completed at the end of the 2014 - 2019 period. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practice and performance of the health facilities projects in the County under the moderating influence of community participation. A correlational survey design methodology was used to carry out this investigation. The data required for the study was collected using questionnaires and interviews from the monitoring and evaluation staff, the community representatives and officials of the County Government. To ensure appropriateness, meaningfulness and usefulness of the questionnaire, a pilot study was carried out in Nairobi County prior to use of the measuring instrument on the main study. Data collected in the main study was analysed, presented and interpreted in line with the objectives and assumptions. Correlation analysis technique was carried out to establish the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practice and performance of health facilities projects in the county. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to establish the moderating effect of the community participation. The study established that monitoring and evaluation practices linearly related to the Performance of Health Facilities Projects in Kirinyaga County, (r (112) = 0.749, P<0.05). It was established by the study that Community Participation had an insignificant moderating influence on the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practices and performance of Health Facilities Projects in the county (r (112), = -0.520, P<0.05). The study concluded that community participation was the lowest predictor for performance of public funded facilities construction projects in Kirinyaga County among all the independent variables considered separately, with the highest being budget allocation, followed by staff capacity building and M&E implementation, in that order. To improve the performance of health facilities rojects in the county, the study recommended that no monitoring and evaluation implementation activities are conducted without developing a detailed and inclusive implementation plan. Furthermore, a capacity building programme be developed by the county government for the monitoring and evaluation Staff. A further study was recommended to establish the reasons around the inability of community participation inability to improve or strengthen the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practice and performance of public funded health facilities construction projects in Kirinyaga County.