Factors influencing effective governance of community managed Water projects: A case of Kieni east constituency

Abstract

The provision of water services in Kenya has been a mandate of the government institution since the independence. Despite the various changes in the policies and structure of water service provision, the latest being the Water act of 2002, service delivery and sustainability has always been a major obstacle in achieving the various goals that have been set by the government. The emergence of community initiatives in setting up water projects has been geared towards addressing the gap that was left by the government in the delivery of services. Despite their role in service delivery and considering the serious attention that been given to the water sector reforms, very little has been done on governance of community managed water projects. The purpose of the study was to establish factors influencing effective governance of community managed water projects in Kenya by undertaking a case of Kieni East constituency in Nyeri County. The researcher adopted a cross-sectional study design. In this study, the research question of interest was, “What factors influencing good governance of community managed water projects in Kenya?” The target population for this study was the community water projects in Kieni East constituency. The researcher used purposive sampling procedure to acquire a sample size of 30 which according to Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) for such a study n=30. This study collected both primary and secondary data relating to the factors influencing good governance of community management water projects in Kenya. Collected data was edited, coded and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data, while descriptive statistics was used to analyze quantitative data. Primary data was interpreted using descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency and percentages as a measure of central tendency and standard deviation as a measure of dispersion of the respondents‟ views. The study showed that good governance of community water project is hinged on transparency and accountability that is used to manage these institutions. The study also found legal recognition of the community water project, their management structures that conform to their need, commercialization and reporting back to the community enhances the efficiency and sustainability of the community water projects. External support was found to be important during the start-up of the project but insignificant once the project has been up and running