Project Management Practices and Implementation of Donor Funded Water and Sanitation Projects in Central Rift Region, Kenya

The general objective of this study was to establish the influence of project management practices on implementation of donor funded water and sanitation projects in the Central Rift region, Kenya. The study specifically sought to establish the influence of stakeholder involvement, project team training, monitoring and evaluation and risk management on implementation of donor funded water and sanitation projects in the Central Rift region, Kenya. The study was anchored on four theories, namely; stakeholder theory, team theory, dynamic capabilities theory and the theory of resilience. For purposes of this study, a descriptive survey design was employed. The target population were all 160 project members comprising project managers, consultants, project implementation teams and task managers from donor agencies in 16 donor funded water and sanitation projects in the central rift region. Using statistical formulae, a sample of 62 elements was obtained. Purposive sampling was then used in targeting the said staff in each of the donor funded water and sanitation projects. This study used questionnaires in collecting data from the target group. Pilot-test was conducted to check the reliability of the instruments used for data collection. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. The study revealed that when all the variables for project management practices, stakeholder involvement, project team training, project evaluation and risk management, were multi regressed against the dependent variable, project implementation, there was an observable model of good fit at 99.6% hence, a good predicator of project implementation if cumulatively practiced. The study further found that stakeholder involvement is a significant predicator (p=0.046<.05) of project implementation in donor funded water and sanitation projects in the Central Rift region, Kenya. Further, the study established that project team training is an insignificant positive predicator (p=0.800 >.05) of project implementation. Project evaluation is a significant predictor (p=0.024<.05) of project implementation and role risk management was found to be a significant predictor (p= 0.21 <05) project implementation. Regression analysis revealed that risk management variable (β = 7.633) has the greatest influence, followed by stakeholder engagement variable (β = 1.192) then followed by evaluation variable (β = 0.116) and lastly project team training variable (β = -0.672).Therefore, the study recommended that, project implementation teams for donor funded water and sanitation projects in Kenya should emphasize more on project risk management as it has the most significant influence on project implementation. The study recommends that the donors of the water projects should sustain, project team training, as much it does not significantly influence project implementation, but it contributes significantly to the overall model fit. The findings of this study will be significant to the government since it aims to stimulate economic growth through attaining value for money for funds sourced from donors. The study will also provide opportunities for project managers to identify key project management practices and how they influence implementation of donor funded water and sanitation projects.