AN EVALUATION OF PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE OF FUNDED PROJECTS IN KENYA
Abstract
Funded projects play a critical role in driving socio-economic development, yet many experience challenges related to planning, funding, risk management, and managerial practices that undermine their performance. The examinination of the impact of project management practices on the performance of funded projects in Kenya, with a focus on project planning, project funding, and project risk management. Guided by the Resource-Based View (RBV), Contingency Theory, and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) framework was done. The focus was on how project risk management affect performance of funded projects in Kenya. Descriptive research design was applied, targeting project managers, donors, and key stakeholders involved in government- and donor-funded initiatives across Kenya. The target population consisted of funded projects implemented between 2018 and 2024, with a sample of SGR project determined through census to ensure representation across sectors such as engineers, chinese maintanance department.environmental department,architectures,risk mitigation department and finance departments as well as communications and public affair. Data was collected through structured and semi-structured questionnaires aligned to variables. Data was analzed both descriptive statistics and inferential techniques to determine the effect of each independent variable on project performance. The discoveries were that the project scope was said to be flexible enough and accommodated the changes as the project progressed. Various types of risks were experienced during planning and implementation phases of the SGR project which included included financial risks of delayed disbursements, phased implementations which prolonged the implementation process, compensation frameworks, heavy rains, technical risks and health hazards.Project management tools and methodologies substantially enhances the success of project implementation.It was confirmed that utilizing a project management methodology may mitigate the expenditure of time and resources on inconsequential tasks.Risk management framework was found crucial. Besides these factors ,there are many more factors that also affect the performance of related projects hence further studies should be conducted.
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