Sustainability Of World Bank Funded Projects In Kenya

ABSTRACT

The World Bank has supported Kenya in financing development projects in transport, energy, water, urban development, health, public sector management and social protection since 1960. By November 2011, it had financed more than 175 projects with a total investment of over US$ 7,070 billion. Sustainability of the funded projects is of utmost importance if the impact of funding these projects is to be realized. Despite project feasibility studies being done prior to commencement of the projects, sustainability is still not guaranteed. This study investigated the determinants of sustainability of World Bank funded projects in Kenya, with the specific objectives being: to determine the institutional, technical, political and economic factors that influence sustainability of World Bank funded projects in Kenya. The study adopted both cross-sectional and explanatory research designs. The targeted projects were all projects funded between the years 2000 and 2012, the period was considered appropriate because, typically, international development projects last from three to ten years. The study targeted 65 respondents of which 51 successfully filled and returned the questionnaires. The respondents comprised of project managers and project monitoring and evaluation officials from implementing organization and officials from the National Treasury in charge of monitoring the donor funded projects in Kenya. Data was collected by use of structured and semi structured questionnaire then analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics to determine the effect of economic, institutional, technical and political factors on the sustainability of World Bank funded projects in Kenya. Principal component analysis was carried out using factor analysis method to establish the most critical factors among the ones identified, and Logit regression analysis was used to determine the influence of various factors on sustainability of World Bank funded projects in Kenya. Prior to Logit regression analysis, multi collinearity test was carried out to determine whether the identified variables were correlated. Content analysis was done for open ended questions. The results of the study established that the coefficients of institutional and technical factors were significant and thus these factors determine project sustainability while the coefficients of economic and political factors were found not to be significant at 5 percent level. It was recommended that capacity building needs to be done by all project implementers and be incorporated in project design. In addition, the World Bank should ensure that the project documents capture sustainability as one of its key criteria for approval for project funding. The government of Kenya through the National Treasury should ensure that a plan to include all stake