Effect of Stakeholder Engagement on Project Success in Rwanda; A Case of Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project

The Project Management Body of Knowledge defined stakeholder as an individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected positively or negatively by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project. Referred to the financial and success reports of Gisenyi Youth New Vision (2014), the project used around twenty millions of United States dollars to finance its projects in Rubavu district. However, despite the huge amount of money used, its projects success has not been very successful in its past twelve years of activities and one of the reasons given by projects consultants and evaluators, is poor engagement of stakeholders specifically the stakeholders of the project whereby they have not been involved in project planning, implementation, in decision making and in evaluations. This study sought to assess the effect of stakeholder engagement on project success in Rwanda and considered Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project as the case study. The study used descriptive survey design. The target population in this study to 43 respondents including project staff and representatives of stakeholders of the Gisenyi Youth Vision Project. Data for this study were analyzed quantitatively using percentages, frequencies and multiple linear regressions. The findings revealed that 51.2 % of respondents strongly agreed that Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project engages its stakeholders in determining the project scope, 46.5 % of respondents strongly agreed that Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project engages its stakeholders in determining the project scope. The findings demonstrated that 55.8 % of respondents agreed that Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project engage its stakeholders in determining the project requirements, the findings demonstrated that 46.5 % of respondents agreed that Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project engage its stakeholders in adjustment of project plans, the findings further revealed that 60.5 % of respondents agreed that Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project accommodates the suggestions of its stakeholders, 69.7 % of respondents strongly agreed that Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project collects evidence from stakeholders. . The study concluded a significant relationship between stakeholder engagement in project execution and success of Gisenyi Youth New Vision Project. The project implementing team should always engage the stakeholders in project execution so as to ensure that they are executing the right interventions in the right and safe environment.