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.
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [6020]