Organizational Factors Influencing the Implementation of Judicial Performance Improvement Project in Kenya

Abstract

The judicial performance improvement project was designed to scale up and sustain stakeholder participation in the administration of justice and restore public confidence in the judiciary. This was supposed to be achieved by increasing access to courts and legal information, improving timeliness of Judiciary services and enhancing performance and quality of decision making. Despite of these goals, Judicial Performance Improvement projects have not been able to achieve them. This study focused on establishing the organizational factors influencing the implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. The study sought to establish the influence of project management competence, monitoring and evaluation, judicial organization structures and stakeholders’ participation on implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. The study was grounded on Socio-Technical Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Theory of Change and System Theory. The study used a cross-sectional descriptive research design. The target population for this study was members of staff in JSC who are associated with the implementation of JPIP; both project and support staff and stakeholders. The JSC staffs who included directors, senior coordinators, field and technical coordinators, managers and officers. Further, the stakeholders who included NGOs officials, Office of the Attorney General and The National Council for Law Reporting adding up to 281 individuals. A sample size of 165 respondents was targeted. The study selected the respondents using stratified proportionate random sampling technique and simple random sampling to pick the respondents in each stratum. The study used questionnaires to collect primary data. The completed questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency. The data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. For the hypotheses to test the relationship between the dependent and independent variables, multiple regression model was applied to determine the relative importance of each of the independent variables with respect to implementation of judicial performance improvement project. The findings were presented using tables. The study findings were significant to the Judicial Service Commission as it might use the findings herein to inform policy in the formulation of effective mechanisms of ensuring that the JPIP achieves intended objectives. The academicians in research would use the findings from this research to broaden their understanding with respect to organizational factors influencing implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya and use the results of the study to further their research. The study found that risk management skills, financial planning skills, and project goal setting greatly influence the implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. Moreover, the research found that the nature of formalization moderately influences the implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. Moreover, the study established that capacity building greatly influences the implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. Further, the study established that M&E data management lowly influences the implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. The research concluded that the stakeholders’ participation had the greatest influence on implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya, followed by judicial organization structures, then project management competence, while monitoring and evaluation had the least influence on implementation of judicial performance improvement project in Kenya. The study recommends organizing sensitization workshops, provision of suggestion boxes and swift and objective handling arising complaints. The study also recommends mentoring programs coupled with training on leadership for all staff to help in succession planning and avoid leadership vacuum. The study further recommends that the implementation team should ensure that all the activities in implementation phase are well within the planned schedule.