FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY PROJECTS IN ARID AND SEMI-ARID LANDS, KENYA.THE CASE OF FOOD SECURITY PROJECTS IN TURKANA COUNTY
Abstract
Over the years, the government of Kenya and development partners have invested in community food security projects as a way of helping local people improve their own lives and livelihoods. A number of communities in Kenya have been given grants and technical support by both local and international donors, with the intention of helping them combat food insecurity and reduce poverty. The purpose of this research was to determine the factors that could be responsible for these food security projects not continuing to achieve their objectives and, therefore, for the persistent food insecurity even among these funded groups. The site for the study was Turkana County. The study objectives were; to assess the effect of Community Project Management training on sustainability of community food security projects in ASAL, Kenya, to determine the extent to which thoroughness of the needs assessment within communities affects sustainability of food security projects in ASAL, Kenya. Primary data was collected using questionnaires. Triangulation was done to ensure validity by rephrasing the questions to ensure validity and the data collection instruments were pretested using peers to ensure reliability. The questionnaires were filled after which the data was analyzed and checked for errors in response. Operationalization of variables was also presented to show the overview of the study. The data collected was processed through tabulation and tallying, thereafter it was coded and analyzed by use of measures of content analysis. The data was then presented using tables and charts. The study revealed that majority 57.1% agreed that community project management training played a major role in the sustainability of food security projects. 71.4% of the respondents strongly agreed that food security projects done where project management training has been done to the farmers perform better. 85.7% of the respondents disagreed that they understood the process of needs assessment. 57.1% disagreed that the Community was involved in the food security projects from the initial stages, most of them attested that they are only made aware of the project when everything has been planned. 71.4% agreed that Food security projects done where community systems have been put in place are more sustainable. From the study it was concluded that: the community beneficiaries participating in Food Security programs did not receive adequate training on how to manage the projects hence when the partners left they were not able to manage the projects to be able to continue over a longer time other than the project timelines; it was also established that need assessment on food security projects in Turkana County was not thoroughly done. From the results the study recommended that for sustainability of food security projects in ASAL to be achieved there was need for the development partners to ensure that Community Project Management training is done to all the stakeholders; thoroughness of the needs assessment within communities is done to ensure the root problems are identified.
Key Words: Sustainability, Community Food, Security Projects
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Altschuld, J.W., & David, D. K. (2010). Needs assessment: An overview. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bamberger, M., & Cheema, S. (1990).Case studies of project sustainability, implications for policy and operations from Asian experience. Washington D.C: The World Bank.
Brayman, A. (2008). Social research methods.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Burton, D., & Bartlett, S. (2009). Key issues for education researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Central Bureau of Statistics.(2008). Kenya demographic and health survey. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Christen, M. (2010): A theory of the good for a conception of sustainability, ms, presented at the 16th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, Hong Kong
Charvat, J. (2003). Project management methodologies: Selecting, implementing, and supporting methodologies and processes for project. New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Cooper, K.G. (1993). The rework cycle: Why projects are mismanaged. Pmnetwork, 1 (2): 5 – 7.
DDO.(2009). Kiambu District annual report. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
District Agriculture Office. (2011). Annual report: Kiambu district. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
District Agriculture Office.(2009). Food production based on cereals production in the district for 2009.Kiambu district. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers
Duncan, W. L. (996). A Guide to the project management body of knowledge. Sylva, NC: PMI Publications.
Fondahl, J. (2000). Techniques for project planning, scheduling, and control. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Gunderson L 2000 Ecological resilience—in theory and application
Hearly, J. F. (1993).Statistical: A tool for social research. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, Inc.
Holling C S 1996 Surprise for science, resilience for ecosystems, and incentives for people
Hodgkin, K. (1994). Sustainability in water supply and sanitation. London, UK: London Press.
IFPRI. (2002). Reaching sustainable food security for all by 2020: Getting the priorities and responsibilities right. Washington, D.C: IFPRI Projects.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (2009). World disasters report 2009: Focus on early warning early action. Geneva: Red Cross publishers.
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., &Tversky, A. (1990). Judgements under certainty: Heuristics and biases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Kelly, T., Clark, B., Brown, V., &Sitzia, J. (2003). Good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 15 (3):261 -266.
Khan, M. A. (1993).Managing project sustainability: Key concepts and issues in development administration in Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development. CIRDAP, Dhaka: Spring Issue.
KNBS.(2010). Kenya national census report, 2009. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Koskela, L., & Howell, G. (2002).The underlying theory of project management.Proceedings of the PMI Research Conference, 293-302.
Kothari, C. R. (2009). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Delhi, India: New Age International Limited Publishers.
Leslie H M and McLeod K L 2007 Confronting the challenges of implementing marine ecosystem-based management Front
Manyena S B 2006 The concept of resilience revisited Disasters
Mathu, M. (2005).Towards a praxis model of social work: A reflexive account of practical intervention. Nairobi, Kenya: Nairobi University.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994).Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Miller F et al 2010 Resilience and vulnerability: complementary or conflicting concepts?
Ministry of Agriculture.(2010). Food security Kenya briefing. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Ministry of Culture and Social Services.(2007). Project progress report 2007. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Ministry of Health.(2010). Kiambu district annual report 2010. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Ministry of State for Special Programmes.(2010). Implementation report summary 2003–2010. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Mugenda O. M.,&Mugenda A. G. (1999). Research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Nairobi, Kenya: Acts Press.
Nyangito, H., &Okello, J. (1998). Kenya’s agricultural policy and sector performance: 1964-1996. Occasional Paper, 04.
Oniang'o, R. (1999). Interventions to address household food security in Kenya.ACC/SCN Symposium report, 6.
Our common future. Oxford, U.K.; New York: Oxford University Press.
The RockerfellerFoundation,Resilience report 2014
United Nations Development Programme.(2010). Kenya briefing report on food situation. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
UNICEF. (2009). Determinants of malnutrition in children: A conceptual framework. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printers.
Wabwoba.(2012). Factors affecting sustainability of food security projects in Kiambu. Kakamega, Kenya: Lambert Academic Publishers.
Walker J and Cooper M 2011 Genealogies of resilience: from systems ecology to the political economy of crisis adaptation Secur. Dialogue
Wasileski, J. S. (2005). Learning organization principles and project management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Monterey.
Watkins, R., West, M., &Visser, Y. (2012).A Guide to assessing needs: Tools for collecting information, making decisions, and achieving development results. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank. (2006). Hazards of nature, risks to development: An IEG evaluation of World Bank assistance for natural disasters. Washington, DC: World Bank; 2006.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v2i2.200
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
PAST ISSUES:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.