| dc.description.abstract | Despite the large sums of funds devolved to schools with the goal of developing resources and infrastructure, issues have been raised on the effectiveness of utilizing the funds. The purpose of the study was to analyze the challenges faced by head teachers in their role as the key managers of the projects funded through Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in primary schools. It aimed at determining the challenges faced by head teachers in identifying projects to be implemented through CDF funds, evaluating, determining the challenges encountered in managing CDF projects stakeholders and establishing the challenges faced in carrying out monitoring and evaluation on CDF initiatives in the schools. The study used a descriptive survey design and covered primary schools in Nyeri South District. A sample consisting of forty eight head teachers was selected through stratification of schools into four categories based on the four zones in the District; that is; Iriaini, Chinga, Karima and Mahiga.Three types of research instruments were used for the study namely; questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis. A pilot study was carried out with a similar sample from Nyeri Central District so as to identify any shortcomings that would have been experienced in the actual study and increase the content and construct validity of the research instruments and test retest method was used to ensure reliability of the research instruments. The data was analyzed using descriptive analytical methods which included percentages, means, variances and standard deviation. To enhance clarity, the results were presented in tables, charts and graphs. The study found that needs identification is largely carried out by the school management committee but head teachers are consulted on the CDF projects to be initiated in their schools. In addition, the findings imply that resource competition among concurrent projects do occur and affects the schedules of implementation which may lead to stalling of some projects. On the stakeholder management, all the respondents who said that the stakeholders exert a negative influence on project management said that they rarely succeed in mitigating against the negative influence. On monitoring and evaluation, local CDF officials were identified as the single entity mostly involved in carrying out monitoring and evaluation. Data collected indicated that the Ministry of Education lacks policy guidelines on the role of the head teacher in monitoring and evaluation of the CDF projects in their schools. The study recommends that the head teachers, the teachers and the school management committee be given the full mandate of identifying the projects to be funded through CDF. This will ensure that only the priority areas as identified by the school community are addressed through the CDF funding. Secondly, the ministry of education in conjunction with the CDF committee develops policy guidelines on the role of the head teacher in CDF project management. The head teachers should be given more control over the teams implementing the projects. This will ensure that the head teacher can act on the monitoring information and this will improve the quality of the projects being implemented as well as later projects. The findings of the study is of the benefit to the Government in formulating procedures and policies on CDF funds utilization, head teachers through acquisition of skills in managing the CDF projects and the local communities in inducing effective utilization of the funds. | en_US |
