Stakeholders involved in M&E in the Ghanaian construction industry

The Ghanaian construction industry thrives on the involvement and participation of stakeholders in project delivery. Thus, clients, contractors, consultants and donors come together in a project environment. Without stakeholders, there would be no industry. Scholarly works have categorized stakeholders into three main segments; those who affect the project, those who will be affected by the project and, finally, those who may be interested in the outcome of the project (Mathur, Price, Austin & Moobela, 2007). For instance, project stakeholders have been defined as those who can potentially influence the implementation of a project (Freeman, 2004; Fewings, 2005). Also, Tengan and Aigbavboa (2017) assert that stakeholders are those individuals and groups who benefit directly or indirectly from the outcome of a project. Further, Bourne (2010) and the project management institute (PM1, 2013) refer to stakeholders as individuals, groups of persons or organizations who are perceived to affect or are affected by decisions, activities or outcomes of a project.

The influence of stakeholders, therefore, is imperative in the M&E of construction projects. Their participation and involvement in M&E are critical to safeguarding their interest (Tengan & Aigbavboa, 2017). Guijt, Arevalo and Saladores (1998) maintain that participatory M&E is cost-effective, provides accuracy and relevant information and is empowering while the World Bank posits that the active participation of primary stakeholders in M&E provides the opportunity for building the capacity of stakeholders. In a study to understand the level of engagement and participation of stakeholders in the monitoring and evaluation

of projects in the Ghanaian construction industry, Tengan and Aighavboa (2017) identified seven stakeholders in the delivery of projects. However, their involvement in the M&E of projects was limited to the three key stakeholders who affect the project. These stakeholders are identified as the client, contractor and the consultant (Tengan & Aighavboa, 2017). The study further revealed that material suppliers and local authority service providers were not critical participants in M&E but may affect the project while the beneficiary community largely provided the labor for the delivery of the project, indicating their benefit in the project (Tengan & Aighavboa, 2017).

Barriers to effective construction project monitoring and evaluation implementation in Ghana

The need to execute projects to achieve success (performance) has been admitted as significant, just as the implementation process. When the implementation process is not effective and efficient, projects might be delivered but not to any performance requirement, hence the failure of the project. In the Ghanaian construction industry, M&E has been entrenched in institutional structures to monitor and evaluate developmental projects. The challenge therefore with the overarching task of poor performance is discussed in this section.

Most construction projects in the formal environment are initiated through funding from central government (GoG) and other government departments and ministries. For instance, government funds educational infrastructure (laboratories and classrooms), health infrastructure (CHIPS compounds and hospitals), social infrastructure (markets) and industrial infrastructure (factories) through the GETFund, the Ministries of Health and Education and budgetary allocations to the MMDAs. There also exist other sources of donor funding for initiating projects at the local government level which include the District Development Fund (DDF) and the Urban Grant (UG). Literature has indicated that there is a substantial delay in the process of the allocation and the release of funds for smooth projects implementation. Effective M&E is therefore hampered when projects are not smoothly implemented owing to lack of timely and adequate funding. Tengan and Aighavboa (2016) assert that limited financial resources and budgetary allocation affect the implementation of M&E at the MMDA level. Capacities of M&E implementation departments or units have also been recognized as a barrier to the effective implementation M&E of construction projects. Similarly, while project stakeholders are engaged in the project delivery, their participation in the M&E of public projects at the local government level was very poor (Tengan & Aighavboa, 2017).

Planning for M&E is critical for its effectiveness and efficiency during implementation. M&E tasks are geared towards specific performance measures and, as such, the inputs, processes and indicators need to be planned well. What, how and who to monitor and evaluate are essential to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of M&E and the performance of the monitored project. The lack of planning due to the absence of M&E systems on GETFund projects resulted in

A review of the Ghanaian construction 169 incessant delays on projects (Eyiah-Botwe, 2015). Institutional structures and capacity for M&E or to support M&E at the local government level influence the effective and efficient M&E implementation. According to Tengan and Aigbavboa (2016), metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in Ghana have a weak institutional capacity which affects the effective M&E of projects. This probably explains the many incomplete and abandoned projects initiated by MMDAs across the country (Williams, 2015).