Influence of Risk Management Strategies on Performance of Donor Funded Projects: a Case of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) Projects in Turkana County, Kenya

Abstract

The non-profit sector in Kenya has faced challenges to do with project failure, delays and increased costs. Adoption of risk management strategies has been proposed as a way to address these challenges. Project risk management involves taking calculative risks into account into the projects through strategies that will reduce, share and mitigate the risk throughout the project lifeline. Risk management systems have been developed for the non-profit sector. However, the influence of these strategies on WASH projects performance in Kenya is still unknown. This study sought to address this lacuna. The main aim of the research was examining the link between strategies used in risk management and project performance of non-governmental organizations in Turkana County, Kenya. To investigate this, the role of risk acceptance, avoidance, mitigation and transference on the performance of projects was used as the specific objectives. Data was gathered from 58 respondents out of the 70 targeted respondents working in various WASH projects as project officers, managers and coordinators. Face to face interviews through questionnaire method was used in data collection. The results of the study indicate that the risk management strategies of avoidance (p= 0.01), transference (p = 0.002) and mitigation (p= 0.000) significantly contribute to improved performance of WASH projects. Nonetheless, WASH project performance is not significantly associated with risk acceptance strategies in Turkan County. The study concludes that risk mitigation, sharing and transference positively contribute to the performance of WASH projects. The research significantly donated to area of research specifically in the domain of project risk management and performance of projects.