Factors Influencing Sustanability of Constituency Development Fund Funded Projects in Public Primary Schools in Bomet Central Sub-county, Bomet County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing sustainability of Constituency Development fund funded projects in public primary schools in Bomet central Sub-County. A project is considered to be sustainable if it continues to deliver a high level of benefits after the donor ends major financial, managerial and technical support. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) act provides that only projects that benefit the community at large should benefit from CDF funding though a significant number of CDF initiated projects since 2012/15 have been successfully completed and are in use, many more have stalled or still ongoing several months after being initiated. Others are underutilized or not utilized at all. The objectives of the study will be: - to establish how BOM influence sustainability of CDF funded projects identification, the extent at which political interest influence the sustainability of constituency development projects, to examine how local community involvement also influence the sustainability of constituency development projects. Also to examine how availability of funds influences the same constituency development funds funded projects in public primary schools. The study findings will be used by the ministry of education to formulate financial policies related to CDF funds management and sustainability. The study is based on the theory of needs achievement as asserted by David Mcelland. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The respondents were 35 BOM chairpersons, 35 Head teachers, 1 CDE, 3 PDOs and 13 CDF committee members. The researcher used questionnaires, interview guide and observation checklist to collect data. Validity of the instrument was established through sharing the information in the questionnaires with the lecturers and colleague students to establish whether the questions were relevant. Reliability of the instrument was tested through test-retest method. Quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics using SPSS programme and presented using percentages, tables and frequencies. Qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis which in turn will be analyzed by organizing data into themes. The findings are presented as follows; response rate, demographic information which captured gender of BOM members, age, academic qualification, work experience and training of BOM members in fund management. The chapter also presents and interprets project identification , head teachers‟ participation in planning and budgeting of CDF funds projects, political interests, local community involvement, and funding of CDF projects From the study findings concluded that BOM and school head teachers have minimal involvement in identifying constituency fund projects in their schools through participating in ground identification on where to install a project, approving the cost of the project and preparation in budget monitoring and implementation. However those who disagreed indicated the reason being lack of ownership by some members of the community who disregards the project, failure by the same to monitor, evaluate and implement the requirements. The study also concluded that there are no politicians interfering with CDF projects in schools through influencing the tendering process for the supply of project materials and CDF committee influencing those to be awarded tender materials. The study interprets that BOM usually invoke government policy on financial management of primary schools by allowing BOM only in funds management. In the study it was further concluded that local communities are involved in CDF projects in schools through participating in project identification, providing locally available materials and security of the projects. The study concluded that schools undertake CDF project implementation through carrying out monitoring and evaluation of projects regularly and checking project expenditure regularly and physical progress. For those who indicated otherwise the study concludes that they gave reasons such as failure by school management to provide regular feedback to the stakeholders and failure to involve all the stakeholders in the implementation process