Factors Influencing Community Participation In CDF Funded Projects: A Case Of Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, Kenya.

Abstract

Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is a decentralized strategy in Kenya that was established to increase community participation in development projects. The Fund was established with the aim of improving service delivery, alleviating poverty, enhancing economic governance, and ultimately spurring development in the constituencies thereby contributing to socio-economic development of all the constituencies. There is no doubt that CDF is a novel concept and one that have major positive impact on development at the grassroots. In addition to advancing the welfare of the people through community projects, CDF has a salutary effect on participation which is itself pivotal to empowerment of communities. Because of the apparent positive evaluation by beneficiaries of CDF, A number of African countries e.g. Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have realized the significance of local initiates in coping with development problems and are now trying to incorporate local people in development under the CDF module. Since the inception of CDF in Kenya in 2003, various developments have been achieved e.g. roads, schools, hospitals although there was continuous outcry from stakeholders on the management of the projects funded by CDF and this was blamed on poor implementation of projects by Constituency Development Fund Committee (CDFC). Some of the weaknesses that have been cited through studies done on CDF include political patronage and administrative influences, top-down mentality and mismanagement. This has greatly hampered community participation in CDF funded projects. This study was carried out to find out the factors influencing community participation in CDF funded projects in Mathira Constituency in Nyeri County, Kenya. The objectives of study were : To establish how level of awareness influences community participation in CDF funded projects in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, to determine how political factors influence community participation in CDF funded projects at Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, to determine the extent at which the level of formal education influences community participation in CDF funded projects in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, and finally to determine how demographic characteristics influences community participation in CDF funded projects in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The researcher relied on a target population of 148, 847 community members in Mathira Constituency and used the Krejcie & Morgan table to determine the sample size. To draw a representative sample, stratified random sampling was employed using the administrative ward assembly units as the strata. Equal proportions of 64 participants were drawn randomly from each stratum. Primary data was collected by use of a questionnaire while secondary data was gathered from the NGCFDB Website as well as reports and handbooks at the local CDF office. From the regression analysis, as explained by R Square which is basically the Coefficient of Determination, 81.50 % of the variation in the Community Participation (the dependent variable) is explained by variability in the independent variables i.e. Level of Awareness, Political Factors, Level of Education and Demographic Characteristics. The study established that all the four variables considered, that is, Level of Awareness, Political Factors, Level of Education and Demographic Characteristics were useful predictors of community participation. All the four variables considered were also found to yield a positive relationship with community participation. The study recommended the improvement of the community participation model being used in the constituency and particularly the methods used for information sharing for awareness creation, more civic education forums, and consideration of the interest of special interest groups and checking of political interference.