Project Management Practices and Performance of Women Economic Empowerment in Kiambu and Nairobi Counties, Kenya

Abstract

The major concern regarding humanitarian program in the developing world is that they do not address the larger socio-economic challenges hence, not being sustainable. Even though, the application of project management practices in Africa shows positive project outcomes, the project management practices usage has been largely low. Hence, the study sought to determined the influence of project management practices on performance of Kenya’s Women and Girls Economic Empowerment program performance in Kiambu and Nairobi counties, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to determine the influence of stakeholder’s involvement, project planning, risk management and monitoring and evaluation on program performance. The study was anchored on the stakeholder theory, prospect theory, contingency theory and realistic evaluation theory. This study adopted a census research design. The population targeted were staff of the CARE’s Kenya’s Women and Girls Economic Empowerment program comprising of project managers, project coordinators, quality control officers, government officials and beneficiary representatives. Semi-structured questionnaire was adopted for data collection. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were utilized to analyze the quantitative data. The study revealed that risk management contributes the most to Performance of Kenya's Women and Girls Economic Empowerment Program followed by stakeholder involvement, Project Planning and monitoring and evaluation respectively. The study recommends that there is need to come up with more rigorous strategies for making sure that appropriate processes of monitoring and evaluation are adhered to. Further, the program needs to emphasize on risk management linked to empowerment of economy and make staff education on mitigation strategies its priority.