Community Involvement and Performance of Environmental Project: A Case of Green Amayaga Project in Ruhango District, Rwanda

Janvier Bigenimana, Sam Bazimya
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1517-4839
Email: janvbigena@gmail.com

Abstract: The general objective of this study was to assess the effect of community involvement on the performance of environmental projects, with specific reference to the Green Amayaga Project in Ruhango District. The reliability of the research instrument was assessed using Cronbach’s Alpha, while validity was determined through the Content Validity Index (CVI). Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), employing descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, as well as inferential statistics including correlation and regression analysis at a significance level of 0.05. Multiple regression analysis revealed that all three phases of community involvement have a statistically significant positive effect on project performance (p = 0.000 < 0.05). The implementation phase emerged as the most influential predictor with an unstandardized coefficient (β=0.415, t = 7.830), followed by the monitoring and evaluation phase (β=0.278, t = 5.451) and the initial phase (β=0.233, t = 5.178). The overall model yielded an R-square of 0.747, indicating that these three dimensions of community involvement explain 74.7% of the variance in the performance of the Green Amayaga Project in Ruhango District. The study concludes that active community involvement throughout all project phases is a primary driver of performance of the Green Amayaga Project in Ruhango District. Project managers should institutionalize clear task-specific coordination and rolecommunication during the implementation phase to maximize the environmental performance and beneficiary satisfaction of the Green Amayaga Project.