DR. WANJOHI JOHN MURABA

Description
Nearly 16% of the global population has no access to adequate, clean and safe water. Kenya, like numerous other Sub-Saharan African countries, is water scarce. Community water projects exists to supplement or complement government efforts to avail water to rural citizens. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of community participation in the performance of community water projects in Ruiri Area, Meru County, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the influence of community participation in financial management, project governance, operations and maintenance and monitoring and evaluation on performance of Ruiri-Thau Water Project. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population was 413 respondents comprising 400 heads of household that were benefitting from Ruiri-Thau Water Project, 11 project committee members and two project donors (Catholic Diocese of Meru and Meru County Government). Proportionate stratified sampling was used to derive a sample of 211 respondents–196 household leaders, 11 project committee members and two donors. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire (for household heads and project committee members) and an interview schedule (for project donors). Data analysis and presentation was conducted using descriptive statistics with the help of IBM Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS), Version 20. The study established that community participation in financial planning had a moderate positive influence on project performance; community participation in project governance had a moderate positive influence on …