Factors Influencing The Sustainability Of Rural Water Projects: A Case Of Kalongoni Water Project In Kilifi County, Kenya
Abstract
This research study investigated factors influencing sustainability of water projects in
Bamba division, Kilifi County, Kenya. The researcher particularly sought to examine
why in spite of the concerted efforts by developers, sustainability remains a challenge
especially 12-15 months, after completion of the water project. This study applied
descriptive survey. The study population constituted of the household heads. The
respondents were reached through household survey. The study exploited both
probability and non-probability. The topic was conceived after the researcher conducted
monitoring and evaluation on the micro projects and found out that sustainability of the
projects was questionable since most of the groups had disintegrated and some projects
were un-attended to. The study was conducted through descriptive research survey, data
amassed from 1st November to 5th November 2016 using questionnaires from the sample
of 90 respondents out of 2,520 beneficiaries. Research findings established that economic
factors such as presence of income generating activities and over reliance on donor
funding have major effect on sustainability of community projects.. Technology has an
impact in ensuring the sustainability of community projects in this area. Community
participation especially the role played by the community in the project selection was
found to be having a major impact on long term maintenance of the community projects.
And the study recommends that the community members need to understand the need to
engage in income generating activities so as to boost their earnings. There is a need for
the local developmental organizations to promote community awareness on the viable
income generating projects such as bee keeping (dry land fanning) that can be initiated in
the area, need to ensure availability of spare parts and inputs that are necessary in day to
day operations of development projects in the area, government to improve road network
in the area so that these supplies can reach the local markets for easy access locally and a
need for alternative and long lasting ways of sustaining water access all year round. The
researcher suggests that it is necessary to conduct further studies to identify the
alternative measures to be done for water.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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