University of Nairobi, Kenya
Online published on 22 January, 2015.
The success of food security intervention continues to face serious challenges, which have made them unable to solve the perennial food shortages faced by communities in the arid and semi-arid areas. Community participatory Monitoring and Evaluation encourages the ownership of and accountability for the M&E process and outputs by the communities themselves (CARE_PMERL, 2012). The sustainability of food security projects is a function of the community involvement in M & E activities throughout the projects life cycle i.e. key stakeholders in an intervention are allowed to participate in the project activities from formulation to termination and provide feedback that contribute to a successful project. This Research aims at exploring the influence of Community participation on sustainability of NMK funded Food Security Projects in Kisumu West, Kisumu County, Kenya. The population of the study included 215 community members of Kisumu West participating in the various projects under the programme with a sample size of 143 respondents obtained through stratified random sampling. Data collection Instruments used were questionnaires who's Reliability was determined using Cronbanch alpha coefficient, giving a coefficient of 0.87. Quantitative data was analysed and presented using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics such as Correlation Coefficient (r). The study established that Community participation in need analysis, project identification and planning explained 23.25% of sustainability of NMK projects. The independent variables namely need analysis; project identification and project planning were found to have a significant positive relationship with NMK project sustainability. Community Participation in Monitoring and Evaluation explained 6.3% of sustainability of projects, Variables of monitoring and evaluation were found to have a weak positive correlation with NMK project sustainability. The study thus recommended strengthening community participation in monitoring and evaluation of NMK projects to improve project's sustainability.
