Influence of Community Involvement on Implementation of Cereals Enhancement Programme in Mwingi Central Sub-county Kitui County, Kenya.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was investigating the influence of community involvement on the implementation of the Kitui Cereals Enhancement Project in Mwingi Central Sub County. The study had four objectives which included establishing the influence of participatory identification on implementation of KCEP project in Mwingi Central Sub County, secondly to determine how participatory planning influenced the implementation of KCEP project in Mwingi Central Sub County, thirdly to establish the extent to which participatory leadership influenced implementation of KCEP project in Mwingi Central Sub County and lastly to assess how participatory monitoring and evaluation influenced implementation of KCEP project in Mwingi Central Sub County. The study used a descriptive survey design targeting all the 1100 farmers directly benefiting from the KCEP project in Mwingi Central Sub County. The survey respondents were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. Data collection tools used for the study are standardized questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of five-point Likert rating scales. Pilot testing of the research instruments was done in Kitui Central Sub County of Kitui County. The pilot testing exercise assisted to establish the reliability of the research instrument. The validity of the research instrument was determined by technical experts from the University of Nairobi. The collected data was analyzed using measures of central tendency and coefficient of variation to describe the variability of the statistics. The data was summarized in graphical representations. From the findings of the study, participatory project identification, participatory project planning, participatory leadership and participatory monitoring and evaluation were found to have a positive and significant linear influence on implementation of Kenya cereal enhancement programme. The study indicated that jointly, participatory project identification, participatory planning, participatory leadership and participatory monitoring & evaluation influence the implementation of Kenya cereals enhancement programme using a case of Mwingi central sub county in Kitui County. The findings indicate that 77% of change in KCEP implementation can be explained by four predictors including participatory project identification participatory planning, participatory leadership and participatory monitoring and evaluation implying that the remaining 23% of the variation in project implementation could be accounted for by other factors not considered in this study. Government policy was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between community involvement and implementation of KCEP.