Project Stakeholder Management and Successful Implementation of National Health Insurance Fund Projects in Kenya

Abstract

Kenya has in many years faced healthcare challenges for most of the citizens and has not achieved universal coverage in health care through NHIF due to a lack of stakeholder engagement. Health projects need financial and non-financial resources from stakeholders and stakeholders often establish the criteria for assessing the implementation of the project. Therefore, this study sought to determine the influence of stakeholder management on the implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine the influence of stakeholder resource mobilization on implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya, to examine the influence of stakeholder plan management on implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya, to establish the influence of stakeholder communication management on implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya, to determine the influence of stakeholders quality management on implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya and to determine the moderating influence of monitoring and evaluation on the relationship between project stakeholder management and implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya. The study was guided by Resource Based View Theory, Choice Theory of Planning, Stakeholders’ Management Theory, Theory of Quality Management and Theory of Change. A descriptive research design was adopted with the target population of 110 NHIF management staff responsible for UHC projects implementation. Census sampling technique was adopted. Questionnaires were used for data collection. A pilot study was conducted on 10% (11 respondents) of the target population to determine the reliability and validity of the instrument. Therefore, the sample for the actual study was 99 respondents. Quantitative and qualitative data was obtained. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and the presentation of results in prose form. Quantitative data was analyzed on SPSS. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze qualitative data. Frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation and percentages were included in descriptive statistics. Inferential data analysis was done using Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis and multiple regression analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to establish the influence of project stakeholder management on the implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya. The results were presented using tables. The study found that stakeholder resource mobilization positively and significantly relates with project implementation. Also, stakeholder plan management positively and significantly relates with project implementation. In addition, stakeholder communication management positively and significantly relates with project implementation. Furthermore, stakeholder quality management positively and significantly relates with project implementation. It was also found that monitoring and evaluation significantly moderated the relationship between resource mobilization, plan management, communication management, and quality management with implementation of NHIF projects in Kenya. The study thus concludes that a unit increase in stakeholder resource mobilization, stakeholder plan management, stakeholder communication management and stakeholder quality management would lead to an increase in implementation of National health Insurance Fund projects in Kenya. The study thus recommends management of NHIF to improve its resource mobilization, plan management, communication management, and quality management to improve project implementation. It is also important for them to introduce monitoring and evaluation to improve effectiveness of the strategies adopted.