Participatory monitoring and evaluation and successful implementation of maternal health projects within Kajiado north constituency, a case of Kajiado County

Abstract

The research sought to investigate the influence of participatory monitoring and evaluation on maternal health projects in Kajiado county, Kajiado North constituency. The study focused on four objectives of the study which were: to examine the influence of participatory need assessment on successful implementation of maternal health projects ,to determine the influence of participatory indicator definition on successful implementation of maternal health projects, to establish the influence of participatory stakeholder identification on successful implementation of maternal health projects and finally to assess the influence of project identification on successful implementation of maternal health projects within Kajiado county. The study was based on two theories, theory of change and theory of ladder of citizen participation. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population for this study was 2572 maternal health stakeholders within Kajiado constituency. The sample size was 255 health clerks and community health workers who were randomly selected from the target population. The respondents were purposively selected based on their knowledge of the projects and ability to fill in the questionnaire. Self-administered questionnaire were used to collect data. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 and results presented using, frequency tables and percentages. Since the questionnaires were self-administered, the response rate was realized at a hundred percent. The study established that participatory project identification led to sustainability of maternal health projects, the study further established that stakeholder’s participation in vision, mission, and objectives setting positively affects the performance of the maternal health projects. The study also established that stakeholder identification and involvement positively affected, the study concluded that maternal health projects needs participatory need identification, project identification, indicator performance evaluation. The study further concludes that PM&E should be results-based in that close attention is paid to monitoring & evaluating the achievement of results against the activities. Adjusting project strategies and activities in order to better meet project results is a critical outcome of PM&E. Recommendation from the study was that county government should come up with sound policies to govern the implementation of maternal health projects and the policy should encourage communal participation in Monitoring and Evaluation in all developmental projects. Finally the study suggest that a study be carried out to investigate factors that influence mobilization of communities to participate PM&E.