Influence of community participation on sustainability of selected njaa marufuku Kenya food security projects in Kisumu west, Kisumu county, Kenya

Abstract

The Government of Kenya initiated Njaa Marufuku Kenya Programme, a multi-sectoral programme under the Ministry of Agriculture, which invested in community food security projects as a way of helping local people improve their own lives and livelihoods. The members are given grants and technical support, with the intention of helping them combat food insecurity and reduce poverty.Community participation has for long been ignored in the development of these interventions leading to failures and non-sustainable Projects; as beneficiaries were not involved from the beginning and therefore they did not own them. To address this shortcoming donors and respective governments have employed a new strategy of partnership building and participation of the community members who are the beneficiaries. This Research aimed at exploring the influence of Community participation on sustainability of NMK funded Food Security Projects in Kisumu West sub county, Kisumu County. The research design used was descriptive research design. The population of the study included all the 215 community members of Kisumu West participating in the various projects under the programme with a sample size of 143 respondents. The study applied probabilistic techniques, and in specific stratified random sampling to obtain the study sample from the study population. The collection instruments that were used were closed ended questionnaires made of Likert scale and open ended questionnaires for the NMK facilitators These were ascertained for face validity by experts in project planning and management from the department of Extra Mural studies, University of Nairobi.The Questionnaires were pilot –tested using a sample of 14 respondents from Kisumu West sub county who were not participating in the study, after which its reliability was determined using Cronbanch alpha coefficient, giving a reliability coefficient of 0.87. Raw data was collected from respondents through physical administering of Questionnaires. Quantitative data was analysed and presented using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics such as Correlation Coefficient (r). The study established that Community participation in project identification and Planning influences 23.25% of sustainability of NMK food security projects. Community Participation in Monitoring and Evaluation influences 6.3% of sustainability of NMK food security projects, Community Participation in Marketing of NMK products influences sustainability of NMK food security projects to the extent of 6.82% and Community Participation in Financing of NMK projects explained influenced the sustainability of NMK food security project to the extent of 10.43%. The study also established with a coefficient of determination r2 = 0.2325 that there is a significant relationship between Community Participation in Project Identification and Planning and sustainability of NMK food security projects. A correlation coefficient of 0.251(r2=0.063) implied that there is a significant and strong positive relationship between Community Participation in Monitoring and Evaluation and sustainability of NMK food security projects. A correlation coefficient of 0.3229(r2=0.1043) implied that as community participation in financing of NMK products increases so does the sustainability of NMK food security project and with correlation coefficient of 0.2613(r2=0.0682) there is a significant relationship between Community Participation in marketing and sustainability of NMK food security projects.