MONITORING AND EVALUATION PROCESSES AND PERFORMANCE OF KAKIMIKI WATER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM IN THARAKA NITHI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes helps address the issue of measuring performance and achievement of projects. M&E has become imperative in all organization’s project. No organisation pursuing development initiatives would proceed at all without M&E framework in place. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the role of monitoring and evaluation processes on performance of Kakimiki water development program in Tharaka Nithi county, Kenya.  The study focused on four objectives; examining how community engagement affects the performance of Kakimiki water development program, determining how allocation of resources affects the performance of Kakimiki water development program, examining how sustainability contributes to the performance of Kakimiki water development program and determining how quality service affects the performance of Kakimiki water development program. Community engagement, resources allocation, M&E sustainability and M&E service quality. The main gap in this study was the success of Monitoring and Evaluation process in Kakimiki water development program in Tharaka Nithi County. The validity and reliability of M&E processes were compromised by inadequate data collection techniques and irregular monitoring procedures. Lack of stakeholders’ involvement in M&E activities is a noticeable gap. This disparity weakens program implementers' accountability to the communities they serve in addition to jeopardizing the veracity of data and feedback. These problems were made worse by the problem of resource limitations. This study will therefore, fill gaps in understanding the effectiveness of M&E processes in Tharaka Nithi County and provide insights for improving the design and implementation of Kakimiki water development initiatives implemented by the county. The researcher used a descriptive research design as it generates accurate information for a large number of people over a wide area using a small sample. The researcher also used simple random sampling in selection of respondents who participated in this study. N= target population (400) and the sample size was calculated at precision level of 5% (e = 0.05) with n= Sample size (200). The findings offer significant contributions to the field of processes of monitoring and evaluations, particularly in understanding the relationships between independent and dependent variables. Further, researcher findings indicated that community participation was not well structured and opinion leaders and policy makers were targeted to represent the whole population during participation. Recommendation; the County government of Tharaka Nithi develop a well-structured monitoring and evaluation processes that provide rooms for community participation rather than the selected few.

Key Words: Monitoring and Evaluation Processes, Community Engagement and Resource Allocation