Stakeholder Involvement in Strategy Implementation at Lake Victoria South Water Services Board, Kenya

Abstract

The importance of identifying and including important stakeholders in the strategic management process is critical since when stakeholders are excluded, the relevance and anticipated benefits from the strategy will be limited. In this study, the objective was to investigate the extent of stakeholder involvement in strategy implementation at the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board (LVSWSB). Using a case study, an interview guide was used to gather data from various interviewees. The study found that LVSWSB had a wide range of primary stakeholders who it involved to a higher extent towards meeting its objectives as outlined in its service provision mandate. The Board had identified its core stakeholders and had already achieved milestones through their involvement. However, there were glaring imbalances in the involvement of stakeholders; the high-end stakeholder seemed to have higher preference as opposed to those at bottom-of-the-pyramid such as resident associations and community-based organizations. Based on the aforementioned, the study recommended wider inclusion of stakeholders in the Board‟s operational obligations. While this inclusion would ensure wider ownership of projects implementation and success, it would also assist in faster decision making to avoid stalling or abandonment of projects. The value of bottom-of-the-pyramid stakeholders needed not be downsized since they had a significant role that would influence project completion rate and overall success of the Board. In addition, it could be highly desirable for the Board to engage stakeholders especially those regulating its operations and funding agencies for the purpose of mitigating challenges which might distract the Board from its goal realization strategy. On this basis, there is need to investigate how different players can have harmonized application models that can be understood by all participants/stakeholders in the water sector. Also, it is worthwhile to conduct a detailed and cross-sectional practical examination among water sector players in Kenya to establish universal stakeholder involvement practices to help in unifying the national water service provision approaches while providing a basis for learning and continual service improvements.