Beneficiary Contact Monitoring of Community Based Inclusive Development Projects in Kenya

Abstract

Community-Based Inclusive Development (CBID) projects in Kenya aim at empowering marginalized groups, especially people with disabilities (PWDs) and rural poor people by encouraging them to be integrated in health, education, livelihood, and social lives. Although somewhat promising, many CBID projects are challenged by the problem of long-term sustainability, which is, in part, explained by the lack of engagement with beneficiaries and the implementation models that are not based on bottom-up principles. The traditional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) approaches utilized in such projects emphasize quantitative deliverables (e.g. number of beneficiaries served or activities accomplished) but pay little attention to the qualitative aspects of lived experiences, perceptions, and changing priorities of beneficiaries. The practice of Beneficiary Contact Monitoring (BCM), a participatory version of impact monitoring, which constitutes direct, continuous interaction with target beneficiaries to receive their feedback, experiences, and levels of satisfaction, is a vital practice which is highlighted as underutilized in this conceptual paper. The paper is based on the thematic analysis of the literature on the subject matter on the theory of participatory development principles and stakeholder theory along with the empowerment frameworks and the Kenyan practices of development monitoring to formulate an understanding of the concept of BCM and conceptualize it as a process that involves building real-time feedback loops. Some of the ways that the implementers of the projects would determine improved ways of aligning the intervention with the local needs and context include field visits, focus group discussions, beneficiary led tracking, and community voice platforms among others. The discussion reveals that BCM is advantageous in that it enhances the sense of project accountability, initial detection of issues, a dynamic management approach, and civic ownership. Particularly, the barriers to including the vulnerable populations should be addressed because their peculiarities are usually not considered in aggregate reporting. Finally BCM transcends technical surveillance into becoming an ethical imperative of equal and sustainable development that supports the notion of leaving none behind. The article promotes the systematic incorporation of iterative BCM strategies, including the formalized Beneficiary Voice Mechanisms, throughout the CBID project lifecycle to bring about the true inclusivity and strength to Kenyan community development initiatives.