The Implication of Organization Systems on The Sustainability of Donor Supported Community Projects in Mulala Division , Makueni County , Kenya

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the most critical challenges facing many development agencies as it defines their identity and role. Institutional strengthening and capacity development, and preoccupation with achievement of major outputs and general neglect for fostering sustainable processes among community stakeholders are some of the constraints found to affect project sustainability. A lot of effort goes into ensuring that community projects are successful, but most of these projects fail to thrive and realize their long term outcomes largely because most of the local partners lack their own software and hardware to ensure sustainability and long term impact of their development initiatives after the donors have exited. The study sought to examine the systems that supported community organizations have in place, what they lack, and their bearing on the sustainability of the work they do. Focus was on the human and organizational capacity, resource capacity; legal and regulatory framework in place. The study was guided by the Systems thinking theory, and the theory of change. A descriptive research design was used where both the qualitative and quantitative approaches were considered. Purposive sampling was applied as the sample was drawn from subjects that had a form of a relation to the community organizations studied. On Human and Organizational Capacity, the study found out that there are effective mechanisms for skills and knowledge transfer, as supported by 88% of the respondents. However, a capacity assessment of the organization was low with most organization not conducting it. The organizations have a governance structure which received low rating on having requisite skills to deliver on their mandate. The study established that the organizations mostly relied entirely on the donor support as attested by 74% of the respondents, with a lesser majority indicating efforts at self-support through income generating activities. The study revealed there being an over reliance on the donor for systemic support. 95% indicated that the community organizations had systemic challenges that affected the delivery of projects. The organizations the organizations were found to be fairly equipped to deliver on their priority areas. On the legal and regulatory framework, the study revealed that all the organizations participating in the survey were duly registered and therefore recognized and had a constitution. Legal challenges cited included the lack of independence, donor influenced policy implementation, lack of enforcement modalities, and lack of clear organizational structure. On Sustainability, (88%) did not think that their organization would be able to exist without the support of the current donor. There were notable achievements in the organizations with more than half of the respondents agreeing that the project had been successful in achieving its goal. The study was also able to document the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities that the organizations possessed. The study concluded that there was an over reliance on the donor on all variables in the study and recommended Relationships between donor agencies and LIPs needs to be defined properly, Capacity assessment be embraced, roles be clearly defined, a review of board member qualification, utilization of available local resources through the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach, participatory monitoring and evaluation, development of resource mobilization plans, an a creation of localized policies and procedures.