Analysis of Relationship between Social Profiling Project Exit Strategy and Community-Based Project Sustainability in Siaya County, Kenya

Community-based initiatives are vital means of development. Initiating projects is an avenue to local communities’ social, environmental and economic needs satisfaction. Nonetheless, majority are not sustainable and enjoy little success! Sustainability is not something one can stick into a project like a budget line! It is a way of life, a way of thinking that if not modelled is difficult to achieve. Many projects hurriedly closes down without planned exit strategy. To withdraw responsibly, one requires a sustainable disengagement strategy. Host of disengagement strategies are in existence and key among them is social profiling. This paper sought to analyse the relationship between social profile exit strategy and project sustainability. The study was anchored on Durkheim’s work on social integration stipulating, “for if society lacks the unity that drives from the fact that the relationships between its parts are exactly regulated, the unity resulting from the harmonious articulation of its various functions assured by effective discipline and if, in addition, society lacks the unity based upon the commitment of men’s wills to a common objective, then it is no more than a pile of sand that the least jolt or the slightest puff will suffice to scatter” (Kenneth and Kenneth, 2005). The study was descriptive and used a sample size of 370 and 346 women and youth groups respectively drawn through snow-ball sampling technique. Primary data was obtained through group interviews and questionnaires whereas secondary data used pre-recorded documents. Data was analysed through grounded theory and logistic regression. Out of the observed case, 83% were correctly classified. Women group projects were 1.609 times (or 61%) more likely to be sustainable. Social profile showed a significant effect on sustainability Wald = 60.051, df = 4 and p = 0.000 < 0.05. The study recommended that social profiling must precede a close down