Over the past two decades, national governments, bilateral agencies, and devolved authorities have made significant efforts to improve access to clean and safe water through various national and community-based water projects. To enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of these initiatives, many institutions have integrated continuous improvement strategies into their results-based management frameworks. Despite these efforts, water projects continue to face performance issues, including delays and inefficiencies. This study aims to assess the effect of continuous improvement on the performance of water projects in Machakos County, Kenya. The research employs the pragmatism research paradigm and utilizes both correlational and descriptive cross-sectional survey designs. It focuses on 70 water projects within Machakos County, targeting beneficiaries represented by members of the Water Management Committee, Ministry of Water employees, and project managers. Slovin's Formula was used to determine the samplesize, leading to the selection of 216 respondents through stratified random sampling. This sample was divided into three strata: Ministry of Water employees, project managers, and Water Management Committee members. Data collection involved secondary datafrom annual reports of the Ministry of Water in Machakos County and primary data from semi-structured questionnaires and key informant interviews. Qualitative data from interviews were analyzed thematically, while quantitative data were examined using descriptive statistics and inferential techniques such as correlation and regression analysis. Correlation results indicated that there is a positive linear association between selection of continuous improvement and water projects performance in Machakos County (r=0.225, p-value=0.005). Regression results showed that continuous improvementhas a positive influence on the performance of water projects Machakos County, Kenya (β1=0.932, p-va lue=0.000). From the findings, the study recommends that key stakeholders especially end users should be involved in continuous improvement through feedback mechanisms, joint performance reviews, community sessions, and site visits. The community sessions would solicit inputs on aspects that need improvement including water quality, management systems and operation processes. The community engagement sessions would provide an opportunity to review progress made and share lessons from monitoring reports.
Odhiambo et al. (Thu,) studied this question.