FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN RIFT VALLEY, KENYA

Magdaline Sereya Morijoi

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Dr. Patrick Karanja Ngugi, PhD

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

CITATION: Morijois, M., S. & Ngugi, K., P. (2018). Factors affecting effective implementation of United States agency for international development projects in rift valley, Kenya. International Journal of Strategic Management. Vol. 7 (5) pp 149 – 168.

ABSTRACT

Project Implementation is a very crucial phase in the project cycle. This is where the work is put into action by the project management team. Statistics show that only 33% of organizations deliver projects that are likely to meet original goals or business objectives, 34% of organizations deliver projects that are likely to achieve stakeholder satisfaction. Other relevant statistics show that the major causes of project failure include; Change in project objectives 35%, Poor communication 30%,undefined project goals 30%,inadequate sponsor support 29%, inexperienced project manager 20%, and procrastination within team13%.This becomes a problem to the organization and the stakeholders involved due to frequent project delays, failure to complete other important tasks, conflict on the part of the stakeholders arising due to sub-standard projects and so much more. The purpose of this study therefore was to establish the factors affecting effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley, Kenya. The objectives of the study were; to establish how project definition affects effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley, to determine how project planning influences effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift valley, to examine stakeholder management influence on effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley and to establish the project team influence on effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley. The target population included five USAID implementing partners in Rift Valley. Stratified random sampling technique was used since the population was not homogenous; a sample size of 50% of the target population was chosen to facilitate data collection. Data collection included both primary and secondary. Primary data collection instrument was questionnaires administered to project managers. The collected data was coded and analyzed using the Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 because of its ability to analyze data easily and accurately, ANOVA (analysis of variance), multi-regression data analysis methods was applied to analyze the data obtained from the study. The findings presented show that taking all other independent variables at zero, a unit increase in Project planning would lead to a 0.638 increase in effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley and a unit increase in project team would lead to a 0.576 increase in effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley. Further, the findings show that a unit increase in project definition would lead to a 0.605 increase in effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley while a unit increase in stakeholder management would lead to a 0.537 increase in effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley. In terms of magnitude, the findings indicated that project planning has the highest effect on effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley followed by project definition, then project team while stakeholder management had the least effect on effective implementation of USAID projects in Rift Valley. All the variables were significant as their P-values were less than 0.05.

Keywords: Factors; affecting; implementation; USAID projects; Rift Valley.

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