Project Management Practices and Sustainability of Donor-funded Health Projects: a Case of Somali Health and Nutrition Programme, Abudwak District, Galmudug State of Somalia

Abstract

Projects that are backed by donors have a crucial significance in the advancement of Somalia, which is recognised as one of the most underprivileged nations in the African continent. For several decades, they have unwaveringly aided primarily the indigent populace of the nation by furnishing them with superior healthcare, potable water and hygienic facilities, housing, education, environmental conservation, revenue-generating undertakings, and other related services. Livelihood programmes and projects have received significant financial support from funding entities, such as health-related projects in Somalia, but the projects are still struggling to be sustainable with some activities. ceased operations after funding was withdrawn. While donor-funded projects continue to perform these invaluable functions, there are still many unmet expectations among them and early termination of projects wastes a lot of money. Limited outcomes have been attained within the nation, thereby instigating this investigation that endeavors to scrutinise the project Management Practices and the durability of benefactor-supported healthcare initiatives, focusing on the Project of the Somali Health and Nutrition Program (SHINE) Abudwak District, Galmudug State in Somalia. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the influence of project identification, project planning, project implementation, project monitoring and evaluation on the sustainability of projects undertaken by project stakeholders. Theories underpinning this study is built upon of this study are the theories of social action and empowerment. The research employed a cross-sectional descriptive methodology, and the recipients of the intervention were 5,380 inhabitants of the Abudwak locality. The dataset comprised a total of 420 participants, of which the majority of over 400 individuals were chosen through the implementation of stratified random sampling. Additionally, purposive sampling was employed to select a group of 16 employees of Mercy USA and six members of the community who held positions of leadership. Quantitative information was gathered through the utilization of a semi-structured survey, whereas qualitative data was obtained through the implementation of a structured interview protocol. A preliminary examination was conducted to assess the dependability and accuracy of the survey instrument by administering it to a subset of the project's recipients, constituting 10% of the total population (40 individuals). The determination of data validity was accomplished through employment of the content validity index, whereas the assessment of reliability was conducted by means of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The statistical software package SPSS, specifically version 25.0, was used for the purpose of conducting data analysis. Thus, numerical information was examined through the use of statistical measures and displayed in a tabulated format. The research variables were examined through the utilization of correlation and regression analysis in order to determine their relationship. The study is anticipated to yield benefits for various stakeholders, including project implementers, recipients, scholars, governmental bodies, and project financiers. This is due to its provision of recommendations aimed at enhancing their involvement in SHINE projects within the Abdwak District of the Garmudug Province in Somalia. The results indicate that there is a moderate but statistically noteworthy relationship between project identification and project sustainability (r= 0.349), as well as a robust and statistically significant correlation between project identification and project sustainability (r= 0.644), project implementation and project sustainability (r= 0.612), and project monitoring and evaluation and project sustainability (r= 0.677). This research proposes that all initiatives carried out by benefactors or development partners ought to be executed in accordance with the requirements or anticipations of the community. Project initiators should explicitly outline a structure that enables project stakeholders to partake in the scheduling stage of the project. The contribution of participants should not be disregarded but rather meticulously taken into account during project execution. Furthermore, development partners should motivate stakeholders to engage in monitoring and evaluation procedures. Additional investigation ought to be conducted to ascertain the influence of project administration methodologies on the financial consequences of a project.