Factors influencing implementation of economic stimulus projects in East Pokot sub-county

Abstract

Various governments of the world have in the past used tactics such as lowering interest rates, increasing government spending and quantitative easing to stabilize the economy. The government then introduced Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) which was aimed at urgently jumpstarting the Kenyan economy towards long-term growth and development particularly in the wake of the post-election violence and the global economic recession. The main purpose of this study was to establish factors influencing implementation of economic stimulus projects in East Pokot District in the larger Baringo County. The study specifically sought to establish the influence of support infrastructure, project financing, project management and community participation. The study used survey research design targeting a population of 150 respondents comprising project beneficiaries, project management committee members and constituency development planning officers. The study used stratified sampling technique to allocate at least 65% of the respondents from each strata form the sample. The sample used in this study were 110 respondents comprising 76 project beneficiaries, 32 stimulus project management committee and 2 constituency development planning officers. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The copies of questionnaire were piloted among ten (10) respondents who did not form part of the actual study sample. The aim of piloting was to ensure that the data collection instruments were valid and reliable. Information from the pilot survey was then incorporated into the questionnaire before the actual data collection began. Data from questionnaires were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0 quantitatively and presented in frequencies, percentages and tables. The study found that infrastructure and financing play critical roles in enhancing project implementation. Further, it was established that community participation and management are also important in ensuring successful implementation of government funded projects. The study recommends enhanced training of committee members, proper scheduling and channeling of funds and enhancement of community participation schemes. Finally, the study suggests that further studies be carried out to model the factors influencing project implementation in order to enhance generalizations in different setups and scenarios.