Assessment of The Influence of Management Committee on Community-Led Monitoring of Borehole Water Project in Bura Sub-County, Tana River County in Kenya

Abstract

- In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis by governments and development practitioners on the active involvement of all stakeholders, particularly the intended beneficiaries, throughout the project cycle to expedite the achievement of development goals and sustain the realized benefits. Diverse strategies have been employed to enhance community participation in the planning, execution, monitoring, and evaluation of community-driven development initiatives. In Kenya, County governments are constitutionally mandated to facilitate people's engagement in local development and governance. Since their establishment, these County governments have established local governance structures and mechanisms for community members to engage in development projects and programs. However, in Kenya, these participatory local governance structures and avenues have not been extensively researched. This study aims to assess the influence of the management committee in community-led monitoring of a borehole water project in Bura Sub-County, Tana River County, Kenya, focusing on three key objectives: evaluating the impact of the management committee on gender equality, assessing their role in leveraging local knowledge, and examining their influence on the development of local community capacity. The theoretical framework guiding this research is the theory of participation proposed by Reed et al. (2018), which identifies four critical factors for successful stakeholder engagement: context, design, power, and scale of the engagement. To conduct this study, a case study research design was implemented. The study population included