Community Participation in Project Planning and the Sustainability of Water Projects in Mbeere North Sub-County-Kenya
Abstract
Sustainable water projects require not only investment in infrastructure but also genuine community participation in the process of planning and decision making. This study sought to investigate the effect of community participation in planning of projects on the sustainability of water projects in Mbeere North Sub-County, Embu County, Kenya. A descriptive survey research design, which involved both quantitative and qualitative methods, was employed. The study population consisted of 5,711 household heads and 11 key informants, who were from local administration and water sector organizations. From Ishiara, Kiang'ombe, and Muminji sub-locations, 376 household heads were sampled proportionately by use of Yamane’s method. Simple random sampling was used for selecting household heads while key informants were chosen by purposeful sampling method. Data was collected through structured questionnaires and key informant interviews. The validity of the instrument was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha with reliability levels of 0.945 – 0.966, giving an overall average of 0.956. The descriptive statistics indicated that most of the respondents engaged in project meetings, shared their ideas prior to the planning process, and felt that the views of the communities were taken into account during project planning. In addition, most of the respondents indicated that there was an assessment of water-related problems before project implementation, the objectives of the project addressed the needs of the locality, and the community leaders engaged in project planning and communication of the plans. A correlation analysis indicated a positive and statistically significant relationship between community participation in planning and water-project sustainability (r = 0.642, p < 0.001). The study concludes that consultation, need assessment, leadership engagement, and participatory decision making increase the sense of ownership, accountability, acceptance and commitment to sustaining water projects in the community. It is recommended that county governments, water management committees, and development agencies institutionalize community participation in need identification, location selection, budgeting, prioritization and project decision-making processes.
Keywords: Community Participation, Project Planning, Sustainability of Water Project, Community Water Projects, Mbeere North Sub-County
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