Risk Management Strategies And Performance Of Government Fundend Youth Projects In Machakos County (Kenya).

ABSTRACT

Youth projects aim at improving the lifestyles of the youth through empowerment and employment, resource mobilization, improving access to economic and social services. By so doing, the poverty level among the youth in the society is reduced considerably. However, for those projects to serve their purpose, the project team members must understand that each project is unique in nature and therefore has a unique set of risks which must be handled throughout the project’s lifecycle. Risk management cannot be ignored in youth projects as it helps in sssidentification, assessment, response, monitoring and review of risks for better performance of projects. However, In spite of the government’s effort to fund these youth projects, there is quite a number of abandoned youth projects .From the youth projects registered in Machakos county in the year 2013, only 60 percent of them were still active by the year 2017.The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of risk management strategies on the performance of government funded youth projects in Machakos County. The specific objectives of the study were to; examine the influence of risk avoidance strategy, risk retention strategy, risk transfer strategy and risk reduction strategy on the performance of government funded youth projects in Machakos County. Further, the study was guided by four theories namely: Prospect theory, theory of Constraints, Systems theory and Expectancy theory. The study also review past studied on risk management and performance of projects. Target population comprised of 250 youth projects in Machakos County. Stratified simple sampling technique was used to arrive at a sample size of 122 respondents from the project members and staff. A structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the respondents. A pilot study was carried out to identify any inconsistencies and ambiguity in the questionnaire and amendments were done where necessary. The data collected was analysed and sorted using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). Descriptive statistics which include frequencies, percentages and measures of central tendency and inferential statistics which included regression and correlation analysis were used to analyse and summarize data. Further, the analysed data was presented by use of tables, graphs, percentages, frequencies and pie charts. From the study findings, it was concluded that risk management strategies had a significant influence on performance of government funded youth projects in Machakos County. Risk avoidance was seen to have the highest influence on performance of youth projects. The study findings concluded that risk management strategies should be incorporated in youth projects to enhance their performance. It further recommended that more research be carried out in youth projects in other counties in the government sector in Kenya.