Project Implementation Drivers and Performance of Water Projects in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Abstract

Project implementation drivers such as community participation, capacity building, resource mobilization and monitoring and evaluation are critical in water projects. Almost, three-quarters of the population across the world are the poor who reside within the rural areas, and a huge proportion of this populace lack accessibility of safe and clean wa`ter facilities. The stu`dy purpose w`as to assess h`ow project implemen`tation drivers influe`nces perform`ance of wa`ter proje`cts in Tharaka Nithi Cou`nty, Ken`ya. Specifically, the study was founded on fo`ur object`ives; to exa`mine the influence of community participation on performance of water projects, to establish how capacity building influ`ence per`formance of water pro`jects, to establish how resource mobilization influence per`formance of water pro`jects and to examine how monit`oring and eva`luation influence per`formance of water pro`jects. T`he stu`dy w`as founded on Masl`ow’s the`ory of hier`archy of ne`eds, Arnstein’s participatory the`ory and prog`ram the`ory. This st`udy employed descri`ptive survey res`earch desi`gn. The stu`dy targe`ted 473 project stakeholders including project managers, site agents, water users and members of project committee. The sample size was 217. T`he stu`dy u`sed pri`mary d`ata which w`as colle`cted by u`se of question`naires. The question`naires were selfadmini `stered th`rough dro`p and pic`k la`ter met`hod. The an`alysis of the da`ta w`as done with assistance of Stati`stical Pac`kage for So`cial Scie`nces (SPSS Ver`sion 25.0). Every questionnaire that was received was referen`ced and ite`ms in the question`naire were coded to fac`ilitate entry of data. Cleaning of data that included che`cking for er`rors in en`try was also done. For quanti`tative data, descriptive statistics like frequencies, per`centages, means and stan`dard devia`tion was approximated and findings presen`ted in for`m of ta`bles. The qualit`ative data from the op`en-end`ed ques`tions we`re an`alyzed usi`ng them`atic cont`ent ana`lysis and presen`ted in narr`ative for`m. Inferential data statistics such multi`ple regre`ssion anal`ysis was used to determine the association amongst the indepen`dent and depen`dent variables. The stu`dy esta`blished that there is a significant relation`ship between commu`nity partici`pation and per`formance of wa`ter projects in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya (β=0.724; p=0.000). The study revealed that th`ere is a signi`ficant relation`ship between capac`ity buil`ding and per`formance of wa`ter pro`jects in Tharaka Nithi Coun`ty, Ken`ya (β=0.6`78; p=0.00`4). The study established that th`ere is a signif`icant relat`ionship bet`ween re`source mo`bilization and performance of wa`ter proj`ects in Tharaka Nithi Cou`nty, Kenya (β=0.821; p=0.000). Finally, the stu`dy fou`nd that there is a significant relationship between moni`toring and eval`uation and perfo`rmance of w`ater proj`ects in Tharaka Nithi Cou`nty, Kenya (β=0.742; p=0.001). The st`udy con`cluded t`hat resou`rce mobili`zation had the great`est influ`ence on per`formance of water pro`jects in Tharaka Nithi County fol`lowed by monit`oring and eval`uation, then community participation while capacity building had the le`ast influe`nce on performance of wa`ter proj`ects in Tharaka Nithi Co`unty. The stu`dy recom`mends that pro`ject managers in Tharaka Nithi county should ensure that there are collaborative partnerships between stakeholders and project management. The st`udy furth`er recom`mends that the cou`nty gover`nment sh`ould come with training programs for all project stakeholders. The study recommends that project managers should initiate fin`ance mobili`zation activ`ities to ra`ise fina`nces of wat`er proje`cts. There is also a need for effective mapping of financial and human resources for water projects in the Tha`raka Ni`thi Co`unty.