Adoption Of Monitoring And Evaluation System Among Non Govermental Organisations In Murang’a County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

A good monitoring and evaluation system is a key ingredient to good performance of a project. It is a way of being answerable and signifying transparency to the stakeholders as it provides for accountability, transparency. It also assists learning an organization by documenting lessons gained during the execution of the projects and using the same in the ensuing project planning and implementation or by sharing with other implementers the experience earned. In Murang’a County, Kenya, project managers today are concerned with the development of their projects as evidence by their eagerness in the adoption of a monitoring and evaluation system. This is mostly because government and donor resources are provided to local NGOs for the implementation of the various projects. However, these projects have not achieved desired results due to a lack of monitoring and evaluation system. To solve this problem, some NGOs have adopted monitoring and evaluation system as a mode of managing the projects. On the other hand, most NGOs have not adopted monitoring and evaluation system and although outcomes and effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation system are known. The specific objectives of this study was to examine the extent to which financial status of NGOs influence adoption of NGOs, assessing how donors influence adoption of M&E among NGOs and determining the extent to which the need for stakeholder involvement influence adoption of M&E among NGOs in Murang’a County, Kenya. A conceptual framework showing the interplay among the various variables was developed to guide this study. Descriptive survey design was used to carry out this study. The study population was 100. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires. A pilot study was conducted to find the reliability of the instruments. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of means and frequency and percentages. Inferential statistics was also used in the data analysis. The study found out that the NGOs had small sized budgets allocated for purposes of M&E which hampered implementation of M&E. It also established that there was lack of professionalism on part of qualified practitioners as most employees were diploma and certificate holders in order to pay them low wages due to inadequate financial resources. The study also established that the training provided was not adequate. Donors, the study established were consistently involved since they are the ones who provide the financial resources whereas community and other beneficiaries are not involved. In conclusion, most NGOs disregarded the tenets of having a monitoring and evaluation framework in place. The study recommends that for a successful adoption of M&E, skilled people should be hired and regular trainings to be conducted, NGOs to be flexible in order to incur low costs in operations and to fully involve all the stakeholders. The findings will help local NGOs to improve the monitoring and evaluation of their projects implement them for their benefit.