Factors Influencing Sustainability of Donor Funded Community Water Projects: a Case of Kitui Central Constituency, Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing sustainability of donor funded community water projects in Kitui central constituency, Kitui County, Kenya. The study sought to establish how community participation influences sustainability of water projects funded by donors, to investigate how management affect sustainability of water projects funded by donors, to determine how financial administration influence sustainability of water projects funded by donors in Kitui central constituency. Data for this study was collected using the questionnaires as the main research instruments. The questionnaires were administered to 35 respondents composed of the 31 chairpersons and 4 coordinators. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents to be included in the study. The study established that most of the community members were not involved in the implementation of the community projects in all the phases and that there was a strong positive correlation between community participation and sustainability of donor funded community projects. Secondly, the community capacity building was not fully undertaken prior to the implementation of the water projects and as a result the community lacked appropriate skills for management, lacked information of policy guidelines on the management of water projects and there was poor planning by the management. There is a strong positive correlation between community management and sustainability of donor funded community projects. Finally the study established that the most of the community financial records are never audited. There is also a strong positive correlation between community financial management and sustainability of donor funded community projects. The Government should train the community leaders on the management of donor funded community water projects before implementation. The donors should frequently audit the books of accounts for the community projects