EFFECT OF PROJECT CHANGE MANAGEMENT ON SUSTAINABILITY OF WATER SUPPLY SERVICES IN RWANDA: CASE OF BUGESERA DISTRICT

This study determined the effect of project change management on sustainability of water supply services in Rwanda. The study adopted a descriptive survey design . A descriptive survey method was used for this investigation. Stakeholders in the water industry, such as members of the district water board committee, WaterAid technical staff and chairs of water users' committees for water supply selling points, filled out a semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire that was then analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21. Secondary data was collected via papers received from the Bugesera District office and from Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) district partners, and primary data was collected through a survey. Respondents' perspectives formed the basis for the study's analysis and interpretations. Questions, interviews, and observations were administered to the participants; different strategies and incentives were also used; and all of these factors combined to form a new variable. Participants were asked to assess instruments' face-to-face and content validity at the request of the researcher. To maintain consistency, a test-retest procedure was implemented. Interviews were conducted with the help of a guide, and the results were analyzed with Content Analysis. Examples of inferential statistics include multiple regression, while descriptive statistics include percentages, rates, and counts. Multiple regression analysis was carried out in order to ascertain if a correlation existed between the dependent and independent variables. The reliability of the instruments was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The instruments were declared trustworthy with a 0.7 test value. The analysis's findings revealed r = 0.596, p value of 0.01, positive association between project change management and sustainable water supply services. Thus, project change management improves services for sustainable water supply by 59.6%. According to the model summary the R-Square value is 0.064, indicating that about 6.4% of the variation in the availability of sustainable water supply services can be explained by project change management (p < 0.01). The study revealed a favorable correlation (r=0.253) between project change management and the provision of sustainable water supply services. The p-value for the analysis of variance in this study was less than 0.05 (F=20,294, =.000). Findings indicated a good connection between project change management and the availability of sustainable water supply services. The value of 20.029 was sufficient to demonstrate that the model was appropriate and applicable. The null hypothesis was rejected with a 95% confidence level due to the strong significance of the beta value t-statistics (α=0.000). Therefore, the findings of this study emphasized a strong and statistically significant correlation between project change management and the provision of sustainable water supply services in Rwanda. According to the findings of the research conducted, there was a discernible and significant positive link between effective project change management and increased sustainability of water supply services in Rwanda. According to the findings of the study, implementing project change management in the country greatly helped to significantly improving sustainability of water supply services for Rwandans, with a confidence level of 95%. This was determined to be the case. Keywords: Bugesera district, Rwanda, Project change management, Sustainability of water supply services CITATION : Karangwa, L., Njenga, G. S., & Odhuno, E. (2023). Effect of project change management on sustainability of water supply services in Rwanda: case of Bugesera District. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (4), 106 – 123. http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i4.2738