Monitoring and evaluation practices and funding retention for civil society organisations in Kenya: a case of selected civil society organisations in Kiambu County.

Abstract

That Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) play a vital role in achieving international and national level development priorities in Kenya such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Kenya Vision 2030 respectively cannot be overemphasised. Following the devastation brought about by Covid 19, increase in humanitarian crisis in more countries and the war in Ukraine, studies show that Sub-Saharan Africa Civil Society Organisations over 80 percent of whom rely on donors for funding were dealt a big financial blow and are facing financial sustainability challenges leading to less than optimum fulfilment of their mandate as funding retention rates remain low. This study aimed to establish whether Monitoring and Evaluation practices namely monitoring and evaluation planning, stakeholder engagement, capacity development and gender mainstreaming influence funding retention positively. This is because many studies have focused on donor attraction strategies while little focus is given to donor retention strategies. The literature reviewed showed revealed research gap on the influence of monitoring and evaluation practices on funding retention. The study used descriptive research method where primary data was collected using questionnaires. The target population was the 199 Civil Society Organisations in Kiambu County. A sample size of 59 CSOs (30 percent) were selected by central limit theorem where 2 employees working in the donor relations, finance and/or Monitoring and Evaluation departments were selected through random stratified sampling. On primary data, 114 respondents’ questionnaires were used for data analysis. Secondary data was obtained from donations records where 52 of the 59 participating Civil Society Organisations submitted data on the number of donors, they had each year for the last five years. This information was used to compute the overall donor retention rates which were found to be low (20%) compared to the worldwide donor retention rates of 40%. The quantitative data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics. Four main findings emerged from this study. Firstly, 67% believed M&E planning have a positive effect on funding retention Secondly, 66% of respondents opined that stakeholder engagement has a positive effect on donor retention. Thirdly, 64% believed that capacity development has a positive effect on funding retention and lastly 65% opined that gender mainstreaming has a positive effect on funding retention. The findings were presented using tables with detailed analytical interpretations outlined. Generally, the study concluded that the monitoring and evaluation practices under study have a positive influence on donor retention. The study recommends that future studies focus on how the strength of Monitoring and Evaluation systems in Civil Society Organisations influence funding retention.