Factors influencing community involvement in management of local authority transfer fund projects in Nyamarambe Town Council, Kisii County, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to examine the factors influencing Community involvement in the management of LATF Projects in Nyamarambe town Council, Kisii County. The study Was guided by the following objectives; to determine the influence of level of education on community involvement in the Management of LATF Projects, to establish whether access to information of LATF Projects by the community members influence their involvement in the management of LATF Projects, to examine whether politics influences community involvement in the management of LATF Projects and to assess whether culture influences community involvement in the management of LATF Projects.

The study also reviewed literature on the concept of community involvement, Level of education, access to information by community members, Political influence on community involvement in management of LATF projects and Cultural influence on community involvement in the management of LATF Projects. The research was based on the fiscal decentralization theory and sought to fill the gap in investigating the factors influencing community involvement in management of LATF funded projects in Nyamarambe Town Council. The study was supported by a conceptual framework clearly explaining the relationship between the various independent variables and the dependent variable.

The study employed descriptive research design. 285 out of 1500 project beneficiaries were interviewed. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. The output was presented by descriptive statistics. Interpretation was made based on the output. The major findings of the study were that majority of the respondents were of the view that better education made it easier to participate in management of LATF projects, majority of the respondents were not aware of LATF projects. political leaders did not involve community members in identification of projects but rather imposed projects on them. Culture does not influence community involvement in management of LATF projects. The study recommended that stakeholders initiating local projects should ensure that the community is involved. Awareness and sensitization on local projects be intensified, leaders should leave the community members identify projects that benefit them instead of imposing projects on them.