Stakeholder Involvement and Model Villages Project Sustainability in Rwanda: A Case of Model Villages Project in Rweru Sector, Bugesera District

Abstract

The concerns on project success have shifted focus not only to the project’s success as measured using the traditional measures of cost, time and quality, but also to incorporate the project sustainability as a measure. The study was undertaken to investigate the role of stakeholder’s involvement in Model Villages Project sustainability in Rwanda, taking a case of Model Villages Project in Rweru Sector, Bugesera District. The specific objectives that guided the research were to examine the extent to which stakeholders’ involvement in project identification affect project sustainability; to analyze the level of significance of stakeholders’ involvement in project planning on project sustainability and to evaluate the level to which stakeholders’ involvement in project implementation affect project sustainability of the Model Villages Project in Rweru Sector, Bugesera District, Rwanda. The study was based on the Stakeholder theory, Need Chain Theory and Community Action Planning Theory. The findings of this research are intended to benefit different parties including the academicians, policymakers, government, and project managers, among others. The research design that was used is descriptive, cross-sectional and survey research designs using qualitative data. The target population for this study was 122 respondents made up of 18 Project management Team members and 104 Project Recipients or Primary beneficiaries from which a sample of 94 was selected using stratified random sampling technique. Data was collected both from primary sources, using structured questionnaire and interview, and from secondary sources using documentary analysis. The data collected was entered into SPSS version 21 for presentation and analysis using frequency tables, percentages, charts, and descriptive summaries. A significant number of the respondents (63.8%) said that they were involved in the project identification phase and 47.9% of the respondents were involved in beneficiary value creation. On the regression analyses that were conducted, the first regression model to determine the effect of stakeholders’ involvement on project sustainability was not found to be statistically significant (F=1.975,P=0.123) since the p-value was higher than 0.05. However, the second regression (F=3.465,P=0.02) model on project planning and the third regression model on project implementation(F=7.765,P=0.000) were found to be statistically significant since their p-values were less than 5%. This indicated that stakeholders’ involvement in project planning and project implementation both have statistically significant effect on project sustainability. The study therefore recommended that the government policy makers and other Project Managers in Bugesera District should ensure that stakeholders are playing a key role at all stages of projects management. Consultation of project stakeholders is also recommended while making any decision regarding projects management. Furthermore, planners and decision makers at district level should integrate the participatory approach in district strategic frameworks to attract more donors’ engagement. Other than the traditional indicators of time, cost and quality, the researcher recommends further research on the influence of other factors affecting Sustainability of community development projects in Rwanda. Further study should be done on the influence of stakeholders’ capacity building on the project sustainability in Rwanda as well as the mediating effects and demographic variable on the relationship between institutional management, social economic factors and the role of stakeholders in project Sustainability. Keywords: Stakeholder Involvement, Project Sustainability, Model Villages Project and Rwanda