Assessment on Viability of CSO Based Environmental Conservation Projects in Gambella Town, South-Western Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was being carried out in Gambella town, south-western Ethiopia. This work was explored the influence of community participation; community capacity building and the practice of monitoring and evaluation on viability of environmental conservation projects executed by CSOs. Many civil society organizations are involved in areas of development, environmental conservation, and poverty alleviation through a spectrum of activities to deliver services. However, viability of the project outcomes usually faces a myriad of challenges. The general objective of the research was to assess the viability of CSOs based environmental conservation projects execution in Gambella town, South-Western Ethiopia. This research addresses the influence of Community participation; community capacity building and monitoring & evaluation on project sustainability. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to pick 87 project beneficiaries of different projects, and the collected data was analysed by the use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Correlation was used to measure the strength of influence of the independent variables on project sustainability. The findings of this research work revealed that community participation showed the strongest influence on project sustainability with a coefficient of 0.95 followed by community capacity building and monitoring and evaluation, recorded a coefficient of 0.825 and 0.635 respectively. A Regression model was used to determine the relationship between sustainability and the independent variables and the Regression results explained 78 % as the sustainability of projects implemented. Regression model gave a constant of 2.064 with community participation, capacity building and practice of monitoring and evaluation having 1.956, 0.647 and 0.128 coefficients respectively. The researcher established that there was a significant positive relationship (r = .635, p < .05) between monitoring and evaluation and the sustainability of projects. It was concluded that community participation, capacity building and the findings suggest that strengthening community participation, systematically building local capacity, and institutionalizing monitoring and evaluation are critical for enhancing the sustainability of CSO‑led environmental conservation projects.