Organizational factors that influence the success of NGOs in the healthcare sector in Kisumu County

Abstract

In devolved healthcare systems in Kenya, healthcare non-governmental organizations (NGOs) still remain one of the key actors of supporting healthcare service delivery. Although many NGOs have led the way in providing healthcare services, they are still facing difficulties regarding organizational and sustainability problems in the areas of healthcare program implementation, financial sustainability, and operational efficiency. Previous studies are mainly empirical, which has looked at the nonprofit organizations in general without examining the organizational factors that affect the performance of healthcare non-profit organizations in county healthcare systems in Kenya. The present study used Resource Dependence Theory and Stewardship Theory to analyze the organizational characteristics associated with the performance of the healthcare NGOs, to investigate the role of institutional frameworks and governance mechanisms on the effectiveness of healthcare NGOs in Kisumu County, and finally, to explore the managerial perceptions regarding determinants of organizational performance in healthcare NGOs in Kisumu County. The target population was 34 healthcare NGOs in Kisumu County. The primary data was gathered with the help of a structured questionnaire from the respondents from the health care NGOs, and secondary data was collected from organizational reports. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the organizational factors influencing organizational success among healthcare NGOs. The results indicate that most of the healthcare NGOs had policies on governance, well-defined organizational structure, and accountability mechanisms for healthcare program implementation. 14 of the organizations reported that involvement of stakeholders, institutional coordination, governance systems, and leadership practices positively impacted the effectiveness of the organizations. Additionally, the results show positive correlations between governance framework, stakeholder involvement, the leadership and communication system, and sustainability of funding with organizational success among healthcare NGOs. The challenges of donor dependency and little diversification of funding were determined to be the main challenges for the sustainability of healthcare NGOs in Kisumu County. The results can be used by healthcare NGOs, policy makers, county governments, and development partners in the devolved health care system of Kenya to improve governance systems, institutional coordination, and sustainability of health care programmes in Kenya.