International Journal of Innovative Social Sciences & Humanities Research 3(1):59-81, Jan-Mar. 2015 (ISSN: 2354-2926)
© SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2015 www.seahipaj.org
CHALLENGES HINDERING SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY WATER PANS PROJECTS IN KENYA; A CASE OF KITUI COUNTY
1NYANGARESI Onchaga Wycliffe & 2KIARIE, David
Senior Lecturer, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
1M.Sc. Scholar Project Management,
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
2Lecturer, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Email of corresponding author: onchaga@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In spite of the huge efforts and investments in the installation of community water pans infrastructure in
the Kenya’s ASALs to assist the communities to alleviate the problem of water scarcity, the sustainability
of these projects is the major problem as they are falling out of use at an alarming rate. The main purpose
this study was to explore the underlying constraints hindering sustainability of community water pans projects
so as to make an appropriate recommendation for enhancing sustainability of these projects in Kenya..The study
used descriptive survey research design. The study sample comprised of 45 water pans in five constituencies of
Kitui County. Quantitative data was processed and analyzed by use of descriptive (frequencies, mean, standard
deviations and percentages) and inferential statistics from statistical tools (SPSS version 20 and Excel).The
study findings showed that environmental factors and technical challenges affected most the sustainability of
community water pans projects as per the correlation and regression analysis which showed they had an inverse
relationship. This implies that they influenced sustainability of community water pans projects negatively
unlike the project management skills and government policy which had a positive significant relationship. Based
on these findings, the study recommends that having an integrated environmental watershed management by the
communities, involvement of community in the project phases to create sense of ownership, facilitating provision
of project management and technical trainings to impart skills to personnel involved in the implementation and
management of the projects to enhance sustainability of community water pans projects.
Key Words:
community water pans, sustainability, environmental factors, technical challenges