An Assessment of The Effect of Participatory Approaches to Planning for Community Interventions: A Case of Christian Impact Mission in Yatta Sub-County, Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

The study was set to assess the effects of participatory approaches to planning for community interventions, with a case of Christian Impact Mission in Yatta Sub-County, Machakos County, Kenya. The study assessed if participatory approaches to planning had any effects on community interventions. The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of participatory approaches to planning for community interventions. The study had the following research objectives: to examine the perceptions of community members about the participatory approaches to planning for community interventions; to determine the participatory approaches to planning for development interventions; to evaluate the role of participatory approaches to planning for development interventions; and to explore the challenges and opportunities to enhance participation of the stakeholders in planning for community interventions in in Yatta Sub-County, Machakos County, Kenya. The study was guided by the community empowerment and community participation theories. The study used descriptive research design. The study established that majority of the respondents 104(94.55%) said that they knew about participatory planning for community interventions. The majority of the respondents 108(98.18%) said that they got regular updates about participatory approaches to planning for community interventions. The qualitative study findings revealed that participatory planning process served the important roles of empowerment by giving the community members a say in decisions that impact them gives them a sense of agency and ownership. There was also integration of local knowledge in development work, where people in the community had a unique perspective on their needs, resources, and difficulties. By using this local knowledge, participatory planning produced more pertinent and useful solutions that addressed the local community’s felt needs. Further, there was the potential of building trust by involving stakeholders to improve cooperation and lower conflict by fostering openness and trust among different stakeholders. The research findings indicate several challenges of participatory approaches to planning for community interventions, including limited finances, time constraints, closed mindedness (99(90.00%)) and power dynamics hindering participatory planning for development interventions. The study concluded that participatory approaches to planning for development interventions played crucial roles of having local ownership and development sustainability, and recommended the stakeholders to support it.