Influence of Community Participation on Projects Implementation in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: A Case of Road Construction Projects in Garissa County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of community participation on projects implementation in arid and semi-arid regions; a case of road construction projects in Garissa County, Kenya. This is due to the fact that numerous roads development projects are either failed or stalling due to poor community participation. The objectives of the study included examining the extent to which community decision making, community human resources mobilization, community involvement in conflicts resolution, and communal projects resources providence influences the implementation of roads construction projects in arid and semi-arid Kenya. The study tested both the null and alternative hypotheses. This study was guided by two theories i.e the Community Development Theory and the Logical Framework Model. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The total target population was 3242 respondents. The sample size was 369 respondents as guided by the Krejcie and Morgan table of 1970. The instrument of data collection was a questionnaire. Pilot testing of the research instruments was conducted using contractors from the Marsabit County, since it had a similar setting. This study used content validity whereby the questionnaire was subjected to the university supervisor, three university lecturers and two students who had defended their masters theses effectively and graduated in the same course. After data was collected, the responses to the close-ended items in the data collection instrument were assigned codes and labels. Frequency counts of the responses were then obtained, to generate descriptive information about the respondents that participated in the study and to illustrate the general trend of findings on the various variables that were under investigation (as facilitated by the use of SPSS version 24.0). This involved the use of percentages and frequency tables because, according to Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), they help to summarize large quantities of data whilst making the report reader friendly. The Chi-square was used to test the hypothesis. Results indicate that majority of the respondents (90%) supported the idea that participation in roads construction decision making influences the implementation of roads projects in Garissa County. Equally, majority of the respondents (76%) supported the idea that participation by the community in human resources mobilization influences the implementation of roads projects significantly in Garissa County. In relation to the argument that community participation in conflicts resolution influences the implementation of roads projects, majority of the respondents supported the idea that community involvement in solving conflicts influences the implementation of the roads construction projects in the locality. Finally, majority of the respondents strongly supported the idea that the community plays a role in providing communal project resources like land and other raw materials (sand and stones).