Project Management Approaches and Sustainability of Community Based Water Projects in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya

This study investigated project management approaches and sustainability of community based water projects in Trans-Nzoia county, Kenya. The specific objectives were to; establish influence of Resource mobilization, project governance, community participation, monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of community-based water projects. The study was based on stakeholder theory, resource dependency theory and agency theory. Descriptive survey design was used to explain hypothesized relationships. The study targeted 124 respondents from 62 registered community water projects in Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya. From a target population of 124 respondents, a sample size of 94 respondents were selected as calculated using Taro Yamane's proportional sampling technique formula. Primary data was collected by means of self-administered structured questionnaires Descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of specialized Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 28 was conducted. Descriptive analysis such as frequencies, means, standard deviation was utilized whereas analyzed data was presented in tables and graphs. The findings established that there is significant positive influence of project governance, fund mobilization, monitoring and evaluation and community participation on sustainability of community-based water projects. The resulted postulated that the four independent variables, significantly predicted variance in sustainability of community-based water projects. The study concluded that improvement in project governance, fund mobilization, community participation, monitoring and evaluation would result to improved sustainability of community-based water projects. The study recommended that management of community-based water projects should place more resources in cultivating good and quality leadership for the benefit of the projects. Management of community-based water projects should also carry out financial resource planning to ensure that finance resources are adequate for the operation of the community-based water projects. Enough resources should be allocated so as to have the funds availed at the right time and be in the right hands in order to have the monitoring and evaluation processes a success. Key Words: Resource Mobilization, Project Governance, Community Participation, Monitoring and Evaluation CITATION: Muange, J. M., Miroga, J., & Otinga, H. (2024). Project management approaches and sustainability of community based water projects in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management , 11 (2), 735 – 757. http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v11i2.2941