Factors affecting the performance of development projects in Uganda: a case of the second Local Government Development Project (LGDPII)

Abstract

The study focused on the factors affecting the development projects in Uganda with specific focus on the Second Local Government Development Project (LGDPII). The study attempted to assess the relationship between four project management factors of LGDPII on the performance of the development project. The researcher developed a conceptual model which illustrated the relationship between project design, management competence, stakeholder involvement, funders’ conditionalities and project performance. The research objectives set out to determine the significance of the correlation between the independent variables and the dependent variable.

The study investigated factors affecting the project Environment in Uganda through a review of the projects’ documents including project evaluation reports for LGDPII, the completion and results reports plus audit reports, text books and journals. A questionnaire was also developed to capture data from some key project staff and the researcher probed whether the factors that were considered in the project management processes were critical and therefore had relationship with project performance. A sample of 86 senior staff was purposively selected, and 80 responded representing 93 % which was considered very satisfactory.

The study revealed that, there was a strong and positive correlation between the four project management factors of LGDPII and the performance of the project. Given that all development projects are set up to fulfill an objective of providing a solution to an outstanding need, there should a mechanism to ensure that critical factors are always taken into account while managing projects for satisfactory project outcome as was the case of LGDPII.