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Masters Thesis | Management | Kenya | Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2023 | Popularity: 4.9 / 10

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Examining the Social Economic Strategies that Influence Sustainability of Community Development Programs

Teresia Kathure Murungi, Dr. Billiah Gisore, Dr. Aloys Ojore

Abstract: Community Development Projects (CDPs) represent an important role in supporting communities to address their immediate social economic problems. However, most of these projects collapse as soon as their prominent donors withdraw. For example, reliance on donor funding by the Good Shepherd Sisters in Meru County led to the ultimate closure of some programs before the realization of their initial goals. This study intended to establish reasons for project failure and subsequent lack of sustainability. The principal objective of this study was to examine social economic strategies that influence the sustainability of community development projects in Meru County, with reference to Good Shepherd Programs. The research was anchored on stakeholder theory supported by systems theory. The study used a mixed - methods research design. A Convergent parallel mixed approach was used to combine qualitative and quantitative data to deliver a comprehensive examination of the research problem. A population of 250 participants comprising 63 program staff, 4 program directors and 183 parents? mentor were used to provide the data. Purposive, census, and snowball sampling were used to select the study participants. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Both factor analysis and thematic analysis were used for qualitative data analysis. Data from interviews was organized into themes and presented in narrative form and direct quotes. Descriptive statistics generated in the form of frequencies and percentages were used to summarize the quantitative data and presented in frequency distribution tables. The study concluded that there were numerous organizational strategies influencing sustainability of Good Shepherd Programs in Meru County. These ranged from staff involvement, program planning, communication, strategic plans implementation to stakeholder engagement. Consequently, this study suggests a wide range of proposals aimed at making the Good Shepherd Programs effective in order to achieve long - term sustainability. Some of these include informed participation, awareness creation, communal ownership of the projects, visionary and transformational leadership, staff development, transparent and accurate financial accountability, and eliminating dependency on donor funding.

Keywords: Organizational sustainability, community development, Good Shepherd Programs, Stakeholders, Project sustainability, Strategies

Edition: Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2023

Pages: 2212 - 2219

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