Examining the Social Economic Strategies That Influence Organizational Sustainability of Community Development Programs: A Case of Good Shepherd Programs, Meru County, Kenya
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Date
2023-10-10
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
Community Development Projects (CDPs) represent an important role in supporting
communities to address their immediate social economic problems. However, most of these
projects collapse as soon as their prominent donors withdraw. This study intended to establish
reasons for project failure and subsequent lack of sustainability. The principal objective of this
study was to examine social economic strategies that influence the sustainability of community
development projects in Meru County, Kenya, with specific reference to Good Shepherd
Programs. The research was anchored on stakeholder theory supported by systems theory. The
study used a mixed-method research design. A convergent parallel mixed approach was used
to combine qualitative and quantitative data to deliver a comprehensive examination of the
research problem. A population of 63 program staff, 4 program directors and 4 parent mentors
groups (FGDs) were used to provide the data. For qualitative survey, the 4 Sub-counties formed
the sampling frame with each sub-county having one Focused Group discussion (FGD). Eight
parent mentors were picked through snowballing where the first identified parents’ mentor
randomly picked from each sub-county helped to identify the next 7 other parents’ mentors
based on their availability to take part in the FGDs. However, the research relied heavily on
quantitative techniques through questionnaires. Purposive, census, and snowball sampling were
used to select the study participants. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 through descriptive and thematic analysis. Data from
interviews was organized into themes and presented in narrative form and direct quotes.
Descriptive statistics generated in the form of frequencies and percentages were used to
summarize the quantitative data and presented in frequency distribution tables. The study
concluded that there were numerous organizational strategies affecting sustainability of Good
Shepherd Programs in Meru County. These ranged from staff involvement, program planning,
communication, strategic plans implementation to stakeholder engagement. Consequently, this
study suggests a wide range of proposals aimed at making the Good Shepherd Programs more
effective and sustainable. Some of them include informed participation, awareness creation,
communal ownership of projects, transformation and visionary leadership, development ofstaff
capacities, transparent and accurate financial accountability, and elimination of dependency on
donor support