Citizens participation in constituency development fund (CDF) projects in Kanduyi Constituency of Bungoma county, Kenya

Abstract

Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is a strategy that channels resources to community projects proposed by community members. It is supposed to increase citizens involvement in ‘he provision of services and in so doing, empowering them to manage their livelihoods. CDF is a participatory fund; therefore for it to succeed, members of the public must be involved at all stages. Although there have been several efforts to involve citizens in CDF projects, little effort has been made to analyze the nature and level of their participation. This study focused on citizens participation in Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects in Kanduyi Constituency of Bungoma County in Kenya. The broad objective was to examine citizens participation in CDF funded projects. The study was informed by the sequential theory of decentralization and the empowerment theory. Thirty five projects were studied. Projects per location were grouped in seven categories namely: education, health, water and sanitation, roads and bridges, environment, agriculture and electricity. One project was randomly selected per category per location, where five beneficiaries and two Project Committee (PC) members were picked randomly for the study. Interview schedules for the beneficiaries and PC members were used to collect primary data with 175 beneficiaries and 70 PC members being interviewed. Locations in the constituency were stratified as urban and rural in order to compare citizens involvement in the two set ups. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer sofiware. The study results showed that citizens were aware of the existence of CDF activities in the constituency and location, but lacked knowledge of how they can be involved in the activities. Citizens were poorly involved in the identification, planning and implementation of CDF projects. Rural citizens were more involved in CDF activities as compared to their urban counterparts. To increase participation, it is recommended that CDF working committees be decentralized to sub location levels, project publicity be enhanced (e.g. sign-posts be erected near the projects’ sites to show projects costs and CDF support), and that the CDF Act be amended to curb executive powers in the fund so as to reflect community ownership and participation.