Influence of information sharing on performance of women-group beekeeping projects in Kajiado County-Kenya

The involvement of stakeholders or lack of it in a project management can positively or negatively influence project performance. The participation of stakeholders in dissemination of information in project documents, meetings, public hearings and seminars is important in making them aware of the performance of the project. Hence the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of sharing information on the performance of women group beekeeping projects in Kajiado County – Kenya. Thus, the specific objectives of the research were to determine how information sharing through seminars, public hearings, documentation, bulletins and use of leaflets influence performance of the beekeeping projects. Cross sectional research design was used in a mixed mode research approach. Quantitative data was collected through open and crossed-ended questionnaires while qualitative data was collected through an interview guide, observation and focus group discussions. Research instruments were tested for validity through content- related, construct and face validity. Reliability was tested using coefficient Cronbach alpha. A sample size of two hundred and seventy-two (272) respondents was drawn from a target population of eight hundred and forty-five (845) members drawn from forty-two (42) registered women beekeeping groups and five key informants in Kajiado County, Kenya. Regression models and correlation data analysis were used, while non-parametric tests were used to test hypotheses in the study. Qualitative data was scrutinized using content analysis, categorization into themes, narrations of respondents’ quotations and verbatim explanations. The results showed that majority of the women beekeeping projects depended on the use of seminars (88.21%) and public hearings (48.58%) as their tools of information sharing while relying on the use of farm visits with a mean of 3.95; extension workers with a mean of 3.48 and seminars or workshops with a mean of 3.89 as their methods of information sharing. Information sharing influenced project performance at p >0.05. It is recommended that to achieve maximum project performance, it is necessary that Project Managers and Extension workers incorporate information sharing processes in their planning in order to achieve maximum project performance. Further research should also be conducted to investigate other factors that contribute to the successful performance of women beekeeping projects.