Critical Factors Hindering Social Projects Sustainability in Rwanda; A Case of Gift of Hope Project, Nyaruguru District, Rwanda

Social projects sustainability has been a very big challenge not only in developing countries but also in developed ones. Rwanda also faces such issues, an example being one of the Gift of Hope (GoH) project implemented in Nyaruguru since 2012-2014. GOH suffered sustainability problems shortly after its graduation, which pushes the researcher to conduct a research entitled Critical Factors Hindering Social Projects in Rwanda. A Case of Gift of Hope Project Implemented in Nyaruguru, Rwanda. The present research specifically wants to (1) Explore effect of project handover dimension on sustainability issues of the Gift of Hope project, (2) Find out effect of beneficiary commitment dimension on sustainability issues of the Gift of Hope project, (3) Examine effect of post-project monitoring dimension on sustainability issues of the Gift of Hope project, (4) Identify effect of post-project support dimension on sustainability issues of the Gift of Hope project. A total of 37 headteachers or teachers participated in the study as informants and these were selected using the purposeful/judgmental sampling technique. The cross-sectional research design was used. Data were gathered using self-administered questionnaires. Through SPSS, percentages and regression analysis were used to present and analyze data. The findings are that GOH implementers significantly considered project handover principles and, hence, handover principles have no significant effect on non-achievement of GoH sustainability (P-Value =0.24). It was also found out that GoH beneficiaries showed a low level of commitment for its sustainability and, consequently, there is a significant effect of the target beneficiary commitment on GoH sustainability problems (P-value=0.000). Moreover, the study has revealed that post-project monitoring was not undertaken adequately, hence, there is a significant relationship with post-project monitoring and GoH sustainability issues (P-value=0.000). Finally, it has been discovered that post-project support was not provided as supposed to be, which affected GoH sustainability success (P-Value 0.000). Based on the findings, the researcher recommends that, for social projects (1) Project implementers need to always engage and empower the key stakeholders especially the target community (beneficiaries) and the local leaders to increase chance for successful sustainability, (2) The target community/beneficiaries as well as local authorities need to be given clear roles and responsibilities to sustain activities and outcomes after project handover, (3). The target community need to change their negative attitude and show their commitment to sustain the completed projects because it is useless to implement community projects whereby the target community lacks personal commitment, (4) Post-project monitoring is very important for social projects sustainability and local leaders are in the good position to undertake it but also projects implementing agencies need to establish a system for post-project monitoring to assist in completed projects sustainability, (5) Post-project support can assist in implemented social projects sustainability and, hence, local leaders and implementing agencies need to do it.