Influence of Stakeholder Participation on Implementation of Projects in Kenya: a Case of Compassion International Assisted Projects in Mwingi Sub-county
Abstract
Stakeholder participation is widely viewed as the key to ensuring that organizations meet
the needs of the people they serve by encouraging transparency and accountability of the
organizations and granting the stakeholders ownership of the programs and the solutions
therein. Research has however shown that there is minimal stakeholders’ participation in
most organizations that deal with development. This leads to the projects not being
demand-driven and therefore not achieving their intended outcomes. This study sought to
establish the influence of stakeholder participation on implementation of projects in
Kenya: a case of Compassion International assisted projects in Mwingi sub-county. The
study was guided by the following objectives: to establish the extent to which stakeholder
participation in project initiation influences the implementation of Compassion
International assisted projects in Kenya; to determine how stakeholder participation in
project planning influences the implementation of Compassion International assisted
projects in Kenya; to assess the extent to which stakeholder participation in project
execution influences the implementation of Compassion International assisted projects in
Kenya and to examine how stakeholder participation in project monitoring and evaluation
influences the implementation of Compassion International assisted projects in Kenya.
Descriptive research design was used in this study. The study also used both qualitative
and quantitative research methods. The target population was 391 stakeholders within 4
Compassion assisted projects. The study had a sample size of 191 respondents derived by
use of Fisher et.al, formula with 80% response rate. The research was carried out using a
questionnaire and interview guide. The study established that in projects with
stakeholders represented in the project governance structure, stakeholder participation in
project initiation strongly influenced project implementation at a correlation coefficient
of 0.802, followed by stakeholder participation in project planning at a correlation
coefficient of 0.798. Stakeholder participation in project execution had some relatively
good influence on project implementation at a correlation coefficient of 0.616. However,
stakeholder participation in monitoring and evaluation had weak influence on project
implementation at a correlation coefficient of 0.350. The study recommends that there be
a review of the existing policies on Compassion sponsorship program with the aim of
increasing the influence of stakeholder participation on implementation of Compassion
projects making them more effective. It also recommends that organizations should
continuously train all project staff and leadership on both stakeholder analysis and
participation in their projects to enable them to competently involve all stakeholders in
project implementation. The study recommends further research on the influence of
project stakeholder participation in implementation of urban based projects since this
study was conducted in a rural set up. Finally, a study should be carried out on the
barriers to effective project stakeholder participation in project implementation since the
research shows that stakeholder participation is not fully embraced.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Subject
Implementation of ProjectsRights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: