Analyzing the impact of donor transition on performance, sustainability and service delivery for Civil Society Organizations in Kenya

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of donor transition on performance, service delivery, and sustainability of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Kenya. Donor transition has been defined as the exit, reduced funding or change in priorities for donor funding that is currently shaking the funding landscape, accelerated in the post-Trump era. My particular focus is the critical role CSOs play in delivering health services in combating HIV, TB, and malaria. The CSOs are often reliant on external donor funding from organizations such as The Global Fund, PEPFAR, USAID and GAVI in the health sector. As Kenya moves towards middle-income status, donor funding is gradually reducing, necessitating a shift towards increased domestic financing and local ownership, as well as private sector involvement —a process commonly referred to as donor transition. This evaluation was anchored in the Resource Dependence Theory, Institutional Theory, and Systems Theory. A post-positivist philosophy and a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical design was adopted. Data from all 122 CSOs supported by The Global Fund through Amref Health Africa and the Kenya Red Cross Society in a census approach, with a response number of 104 achieved at the end. We used structured questionnaires to collect quantitative data from CSO contact persons, mainly managers, by sending an electronic version of the questionnaire by email. Data collected was analyzed for descriptive statistics, then using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and multiple linear regression to explore the relationships and dependencies between variables. The findings were revealed that donor transition had a statistically significant impact on organizational performance (p = 0.0001, R² = 13.42%) and service delivery (p = 0.0002, R² = 13.08%). However, the relationship between donor transition and sustainability was not statistically significant (p = 0.3014, R² = 1.05%). This finding indicated that long-term sustainability of CSOs is influenced by other factors like internal governance, leadership, and funding diversification. The study reinforces the fact that there are short-term operational disruptions caused by donor transitions on the organisations—such as staffing challenges, funding shortages, and service interruptions, but donor transition alone may not shape the long-term CSO sustainability, as their may be many other factors in play. The study concludes that effective transition planning must go beyond organisational and financial support to include capacity strengthening, policy engagement, and local ownership strategies as well as diversification of funding. It recommends the development of a national donor transition framework and a social contracting framework for CSO engagement by government. The study also calls for increased domestic investment and strategic partnerships to ensure uninterrupted health service delivery in the post-donor era for many CSOs that serve critical communities.