Community Participation and Sustainability of World Vision Donor Funded Youth Entrepreneurial Projects: a Case of Kariobangi Youth Livelihood Project in Soweto Slums, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Donor projects funded by donors play crucial role in complementing different roles of governments in the delivery of key developmental needs within societies for instance access to socio-economic services such as shelter, affordable healthcare, clean water, food and affordable education among other services. Approaches of community participation has attracted attention of global development agencies such as the World Bank, USAID, and United Nations among others in supporting the sustainability of donor-funded projects. Sustainability of projects funded by donor calls for the need to involve targeted beneficiaries and local communities in various phases of such projects. In Soweto Slums Kenya, World Vision has been undertaking donor funded entrepreneurial skills development projects. However, there is still a significant issue with the long-term viability of donor-funded projects in terms of accomplishing their goals and being completed on schedule and under budget. Using Resource Dependence Theory, Empowerment Theory, and The Stakeholder Theory as a framework, this study analyzed the impact that community involvement has on the long-term viability of World Vision's donor-funded initiatives to improve residents' entrepreneurial skills in the Soweto slums of Nairobi County. The specific objectives of the study were, to assess the influence of community involvement in project selection, community participation in project decision making, community participation in project execution and community involvement in project monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of donor funded entrepreneurial skills development projects in Soweto slums, Kenya. The explanatory research method was used in this investigation. Target population for the study consisted of the 300 youth beneficiaries of Youth Livelihood Project by World Vision in Soweto slums. Sample size of 171 youth beneficiaries was calculated using Yamane formula. Stratified random sampling was used to select the sample. This study used structured questionnaire to collect data. Before actual data collection, pretesting of the questionnaire was done at Kariobangi to enhance its reliability in collecting viable information. Analysis of data was done through descriptive statistics. Multiple linear regression was used in order to ascertain the interactions that currently exist between the study variables. The results of the study indicated that community involvement in project selection, decision-making, project execution and monitoring and evaluation has a positive and statistically significant influence on the sustainability of World Vision donor funded youth entrepreneurial projects in Soweto Nairobi. The study recommended that the government should collaborate with donors to enhance efficiency in the service delivery to its citizens and to reduce the possibility of duplication of roles and channeling funds to the same project by both the government and the donors. Furthermore, the donors should involve the community to get the views of the community on their existing challenges and the possible solutions to the challenges they are facing.