An Assessment of theEffectiveness of Monitoring and Evaluation Methods on the Performance of County Government Projects in the Lake Region Economic Bloc of Nyanza, Kenya

In Kenya, the newly promulgated constitution of 2010 (CoK, 2010), provides the basis of monitoring and evaluation as an important tool for operationalizing National and County Government projects to ensure projects success, integrity, transparency and accountability. The county governments are responsible for delivering basic services in collaboration with other agencies and partners to enhance quality of life: however, the county government projects has been marred by lack of integrity, transparency, accountability and litany of other monitoring and evaluation weakness which has undermined the impacts and success of projects including Regional Economic Blocs. Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) which comprised of fourteen counties bordering Lake Victoria Basin is not sparred either. The study was conducted in six LREB Counties namely, Migori, Homabay, Kisumu, Siaya, Kakamega and Vihiga chosen in a random manner. This study specifically assessed the effectiveness of Monitoring and Evaluation methods on the Performance of County Governments Projects. The study was guided by the theory of change. The research was carried out using descriptive survey design which entails both qualitative and quantitative data collection procedures. The researcher used stratified random sampling techniques to draw a sample from the study population. The qualitative method focused on group discussion and in-depth interviews. The quantitative techniques employed questionnaires to 398 purposively selected subjects from the county projects. Data collection was from two main sources; primary and secondary. Secondary sources included relevant county documents, constitution, legislations, policy documents and reports among others. The Study employed questionnaires, Focus group discussion and Interview guide as its primary data collection method. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 18.0 was used for analysis. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics techniques and presented in tables and figures. The study findings indicated thatM&E methods, indicated by the coefficient of effectiveness (R2) which is also evidenced by F change 109.403>p-values (0.05). This implies that this variableis significant (since the p values<0.05) and therefore should be considered as part of effectiveness of M&E systems on the performance of County Governments projects. The study concludes that there are no effective and adequate projects monitoring and evaluation methods in place for County Government Projects, which can facilitate the achievement of desired projects performance and outcomes. The study recommends that the County Government should develop a clear M&E methods for each project with clear data collection, analysis, reporting and implementation methods. This Study recommends further research to be conducted in the other Regional County Economic Blocs.