Influence of Stakeholder Participation on Sustainability of Community Development Projects Implemented by Plan International in Homa Bay Town Sub-County, Kenya

Plan International Kenya noted in an evaluation that the sustainability of community development project is poor, with one of the causes being established as weak participation by stakeholders, the level of stakeholder engagement was however not clear.The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of stakeholder participation on sustainability of community development projects implemented by Plan International in Homa Bay Town Sub-County.The researcher targeted three people in each of the 51 organizations partnering with Plan International; this gave a population of 153 people. Using Sekeran (2003) sample determination the sample size was determined as 113 respondents. Simple random sampling was used to select the 113 respondents. Pilot testing was done with 15 respondents from Rangwe Sub-county. Data validity was tested by using the Content Valid Index (CVI).The test re-test method was used to assess the reliability of the instruments. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages and cross-tabulation and chi-square p-value significance test. It was established that there was a weak but significant negative association between passive participation among stakeholders on and sustainability of community development projects r=-0.043,p=0.000,CL=95%.It was also established that there was a moderate significant positive correlation between interactive participation among stakeholders on sustainability of community development projects r=0.365, p=0.000, CI=95%. A moderate significant positive correlation between the influences of functional participation among stakeholders on sustainability of community development projects was established =0.455, p=0.000, CL=95%.There was a moderate significant positive correlation between the influences of optimum participation among stakeholders on sustainability of community development projects r= 0.382, p=0.000, CL=95%.It was recommended that Plan International needs to reduce the extent of engaging stakeholder passively, enhance the extent of interactive participation, strengthen functional participation among stakeholders and reinforce optimal participation to enable greater efficiency and effectiveness of programming as well as accountability among the stakeholders, this will be an assurance for project sustainability.