Factors Influencing The Implementation Of Jielimishe Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) Project In Mombasa County

Gender parity in primary and especially in secondary schools is something that Kenya has been facing for some years now. Many sub-Saharan countries inclusive of Kenya have miles to go before they achieve gender parity and equity in education. This is due to a number of challenges which include; high level of poverty, teacher supply and quality, HIV/AIDS pandemic and inadequate financial resource. This being a major challenge in Kenya, there are a variety of girl education challenge projects trying to counter the gender parity in secondary education which have made a lot of difference and progress in the Kenyan education system. In light of above, the study will look at the practice of project management with a close regard to the phase of project implementation being the phase that carries most of the project effort. The principle objective was to investigate the factors influencing the implementation of Jielimishe GEC project in Mombasa County. The study examined the following variables that influence the implementation of Jielimishe GEC project namely: the influence of social support, resource availability, stakeholder involvement and management training. The Jielimishe GEC project aims to improve education outcomes to better life chances of 10,050 marginalized girls in Laikipia, Meru and Mombasa counties. The study was conducted at Tononoka and Mvita ward in Mvita Constituency in Mombasa County. The target population was 120 and the sample size was 93. A modified Likert scale questionnaire was developed into two parts which was used to collect primary data from the GEC project beneficiaries and the Jielimishe project management team. A pilot study was conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of the instruments. The quality and consistency of the study was further assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Analysis was done using frequency counts, percentages, means, standard deviations, regression, correlation and the information was presented in form of graphs, charts and tables. The study concluded that all the independent variables studied have significant effect on the implementation of the Jielimishe GEC project with resource availability having the most significance as indicated by the strong coefficient of correlation and a p-value which is less than 0.05. Some of the key conclusions from the study are that as far as project implementation is concerned, it emerged from the study that the respondents were satisfied with the manner and rate in which the implementation was being done in their area. The results further concluded that during the implementation stage, the projects are largely under the Jielimishe staff which is understandable but the community members ought to at least be involved some more during that stage. The study recommends that more awareness should be done about promoting girl child education and about the Jielimishe GEC project and its purpose so that the community members can become aware of it. Further, the researcher recommends a study to be done on remaining counties in order to get an accurate description of the factors influencing implementation.