Challenges of Strategy Implementation in Non Governmental Organizations in Migori County, Kenya

Abstract

This research sought to determine the challenges faced in implementation of strategic plan in Non-Governmental Organizations in Migori County, Kenya and to establish measures taken to deal with challenges faced in execution of strategic plans in Non – Governmental organization in Migori County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey research method to ensure ease in understanding ideas about the problem. The study used both qualitative and quantitative techniques in analyzing collected data. The qualitative was collected and analyzed by descriptive statistics, and presented through tables. The population of the study included all fifty five active NGOs implementing development and advocacy programs and registered under the NGO coordination board in Kenya operating in Migori County. Both primary and secondary data were used in this research. The primary data was collected through administering structured questionnaires which were distributed to the team of project directors, project/programs managers and operational levels involved in implementation of strategic plans within the fifty five NGOs sampled. The findings revealed that the organizational factors that significantly contribute to successful strategy implementation in NGOs in Migori County are the management skills which play a vital role in strategy implementation in NGOs. This is closely followed by the leadership of the Executive/CEO. That is leadership in an NGO would actually contribute significantly in strategy implementation. The study therefore concluded that leadership and management skills will contribute significantly to successful strategy implementation. Further the study found that competing activities, interference by development partners, inadequate training and instruction to lower level employees among others would negatively influence strategy implementation. Finally, the study revealed that management has a key role to play in strategy implementation in an organization. The organizations sampled shared some of measures they engaged to deal with the challenges faced in implementation of strategic plans in their organizations. It was concluded that the common measures were wider participation and consultation with key stakeholders and staff, planning and resource mobilization to ensure full implementation of the strategic plan with adequate resources for the intended outcome and regular capacity building of staff and participation during the designing of strategic plan. The study recommends that management should lead in strategy implementation, and deal effectively with the potential problems that would hinder effective strategy implementation. All NGOs should always refer to the strategic plans when developing proposals for funded project to make sure the proposal is aligned to the organization strategic plans. The researcher also recommends that proper planning and resource mobilization to ensure full implementation of the strategic plan with adequate resources for the intended outcome. Wider participation and consultation with key stakeholders and staff to ensure the buy in of the stakeholders since most of the beneficiaries are from the community who should own the project. NGOs should align their core interventions with the strategic directions of the organization and have regular capacity building of staff and participation during the designing of strategic plan. The major limitation of this study was getting the project directors, project/program coordinators, M&E and relevant managers wasn’t easy considering that these are the senior level management and the nature of their job involve a lot of traveling hence it required frequent follow ups and regular visits which forced the researcher to extend the period of data collection.