Beneficiary-driven Implementation and Sustainability of Borehole Water Projects in Kenya a Case of Tigania West Subcounty in Meru County

Abstract

Water projects are crucial as they provide the water necessary to sustain human life, ecological systems, and social and economic development. The unsuccessful collapse of water projects at their development, implementation, or completion period negatively affects the targeted population who depends on these projects to supply clean water for their daily requirements and consumption. The study investigated the role of beneficiary-driven implementation on the manageability of borehole water projects in the Tigania West sub-county, Meru County, in Kenya. The primary purpose was to establish the influence that the end users have during the implementation stage of these projects on the implementation and continuous existence of borehole water projects in the Tigania West sub-county. The study focused on end-user involvement through technical capacity development, governance structures, resource mobilization, and monitoring and control of borehole water projects. The study utilized a descriptive research design with a sample size of 416 respondents among 12 borehole projects spread across the five wards. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.0, to which questionnaire responses were subjected. On technical capacity and development, training and expertise received 78.8% and 67.1%, respectively; on governance structure, change in leadership and transparency and accountability scored 93.5% and 93.3%, respectively; on resource mobilization, availability of materials received 56.3%; and on monitoring and control, management supervisory and project reviews received 74.5% and 73.3% of the responses. Improvement in availability and accessibility of clean water stands at 46.6%, indicating that it is still below the recommended levels. The respondents consistently mentioned corruption and the role of devolution as other factors that significantly influence the implementation and sustainability of the projects. The study established that 35.5% of the respondents agreed on the improvement in the sustainability of borehole water projects. The study concluded that the involvement of the beneficiaries is crucial to the successful outcome of community-based projects. Thus, the study recommended that beneficiary-driven participation should be promoted, initiation of relevant training and expertise, and stakeholders must ensure leadership competencies for the implementation and sustainability of the borehole water projects.