Project Beneficiary Selection Process and Sustainability of Dairy Goat Projects in Kenya

Abstract

The ultimate goal of dairy goat projects is to achieve sustainability. However, sustainability is often not achieved as there exists inadequate understanding of the critical drivers of sustainability. This paper advocates for authentic project beneficiary selection process for sustainability to be realized. The paper is based on a study conducted in Kenya that sought to establish the extent to which project beneficiary selection process influence the sustainability of dairy goat projects in Kenya. The study focused on the project beneficiary selection tools, beneficiary needs analysis and beneficiary composition as the indicators. As guided by the Structural-Functional Theory, Diffusion of innovations Theory and Theory of Collective Action, pragmatism paradigm, cross-sectional descriptive survey and correlational research design using mixed mode approach was used. Multiphase or sequential sampling and stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 188 dairy goat farmers. Key informants (12) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) 4 involving 8 participants purposively sampled. Five-point Likert type scale questionnaire was used for quantitative data while interview and FGDs guides used for qualitative data. Descriptive data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, arithmetic mean and standard deviation while inferential data was analysed using Pearson's Product Moment (r) and simple regression. Results indicates that the p-value = 0.002≤0.05. t=3.138, p=0.002<0.05, r= 0.224 and r square=0.050. Overall F statistics was F (1,186) = 9.850 Hence based on these findings we reject the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between project beneficiary selection and the sustainability of dairy goat projects and accept the alternative hypothesis at α=0.05 level of significance that there is a significant relationship between project beneficiary selection and the Sustainability of dairy goat projects. The study recommends that authentic beneficiary selection process to be incorporated in dairy goat development project designs to enhance their sustainability.