Influence of Monitoring and Evaluation Practices on Sustainability of World Bank Funded Project. A Case of Rwanda Urban Development Phase One in Musanze District

The purpose of this study is to find out the influence of practicing monitoring and evaluation during the project cycle on sustainability of World Bank funded project. Specific objectives included: to determine the influence of partnerships in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of a World Bank funded project; to determine the influence of communication in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project; to evaluate the role of accountability in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project and to establish the contributions of resource allocation for monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project. The researcher used questionnaires to collect data, as far as this study was concerned, the population was comprised of employees of Rwanda urban development phase one in Musanze district in different departments targeting 125 people. To describe target population of the study as the point of focus from which a generalization was made regarding the research findings. Thus, a sample size of 125 employees as respondents was considered representative of the total population. I used primary and secondary data to get all information needed in this study, the quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics after running the data collected through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings indicated that 55 of respondents with 44% are strong agree that partnerships in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project promotes beneficiaries’ awareness of objectives of M&E and participate in public activities, 60 of respondents with 48% are agree that partnerships in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project promotes beneficiaries’ awareness of objectives of M&E and participate in public activities while 10 of respondents with 8% are neutral about statement. 55 of respondents with 44% are strong agree that partnerships in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project creates a sense of ownership of the project for beneficiaries while 70 of respondents with 56% are agree that partnerships in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project creates a sense of ownership of the project for beneficiaries. 40 of respondents with 32% said that contributions of resources allocation for monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project is to assign the resources during project implementation and 34 of respondents with 27.2% said that contributions of resources allocation for monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of World Bank funded project is to divide the project into tasks during project implementation. Following the discussions from the findings, monitoring and evaluation practices in all aspects of M&E of the project as well as it sustainability. This shows that even if Rwanda Urban Development Phase One in Musanze district ends its interventions, the beneficiaries can still continue the project’s activities for a long time without any assistance because their capacities have been built and strengthened through the various trainings and economic empowerments to ensure the project becomes sustainable. The overall involvement of the beneficiaries participatory in M&E has empowered them to find solutions to their problems and use the solution as a recommendation for planning for future activities. All institutions, both private and public, including for profit organizations, NGOs and international organizations should involve their beneficiaries’ participation and even the employees in M&E because it is believed that participation would lead to empowerment through capacity building, skills and training. By increasing the ability of people, projects and/or communities to be self-reliant, they are then able to contribute towards the sustainability of development projects which in turn contribute to the broader notion of sustainable national development.