Efficacy of Beneficiary Accountability on Implementation of Development Projects: A Comparative Analysis of Machakos and Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to Efficacy of Beneficiary Accountability on Implementation of Development Projects. A Comparative Analysis of Machakos and Embu County, Kenya. The study was guided by the main determinants of Monitoring and Evaluation which was beneficiary accountability. The moderating effects were government funding and disbursement of funds. The research adopted a Comparative research design with a mixed method centered within a wider exploratory, cross-sectional framework. The study was conducted in Machakos and Embu County. The population of this study was 132 staff mandated to monitor and evaluate projects undertaken under County government devolved functions from Machakos and Embu County. The sample distribution was 56 county government officials from Machakos and 43 from Embu since the two counties are relatively not homogeneous in terms of geographical location in Kenya. A sample of 99 respondents was determined and individual elements in different categories were also determined using a stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents through a “drop and pick later” method and were subjected to a reliability test using Cronbach’s alpha. Data were analyzed quantitatively by means of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study findings indicated beneficiary accountability (β4 = 0.432; p-value = 0.002) was found to have a significant effect respectively. The results obtained show the adjusted r square value of r2 = .514 which indicate that when all the variables were combined, the multiple linear regression model could explain for approximately 51% of the variation in the dependent variable by the variation in the independent variables on Implementation of County Projects. The study recommends that those charged with the responsibility of carrying out M&E, should be appropriately empowered with the necessary knowledge in order to have the grasp of how these tools are used in order to utilize them.