Determinants of community participation in implementation of developmental projects in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite the emphasis of citizen participation in policy formulation and implementation by the Revised Kenyan Constitution 2010, policymakers have inadequate information about the determinants of community participation in developmental projects since research has yielded mixed results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of community participation in implementation of developmental projects in Mombasa County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to determine the extent to which the level of education, decision making, culture and project leadership influences community participation in developmental projects in Mombasa County. In the study the dependent variable was community participation while the independent variables included the level of education, project leadership, decision making and culture. This study employed a descriptive survey research design. The researcher used community members’ awareness of the project, access to project data and involvement in project planning as proxies for community participation. The researcher used stratified random sampling technique to draw a sample of 72 projects from the list of education, infrastructure, water and sanitation and sports projects implemented between 2014 and 2018 in Mombasa County. The target population included the household head beneficiaries of the projects. The sample population included 2 heads purposively picked from the 72 projects adding to 144 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using spss version 24.0 with the hypotheses being tested using the Chi square test. A return rate achieved 100 questionnaires. The results indicated that, a higher percentage made of 90% respondents overwhelmingly supported the idea that the level of education of the community members influenced their ability to participate in the implementation of various development projects in Mombasa County.Also, majority of the respondents as supported by a percentage score of 75% supported the idea that culture has a significant influence on the community members’ participation in community development projects implementation in the county.In relation to the objective that sought to determine the extent project leadership influence community participation in the implementation development projects in Mombasa County, results showed a significant influence. Finally, majority of the respondents as supported by a percentage score of 85% supported the idea that decisions making has a significant influence on community participation on the community development projects implementation. The chi-square values indicated that all the alternative hypotheses held in the study. The researcher recommended that: the community members should be subjected to both formal ad non formal educations so that they can see the value of participating in the community based development projects in the county; the project initiators and implementers should at all levels incorporate the concepts of: core values held by the community members, beliefs held by the community members, gender roles perceptions by the community members and hierarchical relationships among the community members for better participation of the community members; the project implementers and strategists should at all levels employ democratic leadership as it favors the community members’ ability and willingness to participate in community projects implementation, so as it is to participatory leadership, transparency and accountability in leadership etc. and participatory decision making in relation to projects implemented in the community, fair election of leaders, incentives and recognition of community efforts, and fair distribution of jobs should be an integral part of community development projects implementation.