Participatory Planning and Implementation for Organizational Sustainability: Empirical Findings from Uganda National Teachers' Union (UNATU) Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO)

Abstract

This paper explores the connection between stakeholder participation in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) implementation and Organizational sustainability, specifically exploring participatory planning and implementation. While the importance of participation in sustainable development is widely recognized, many organizations still rely on specialists for M&E system setup, often excluding the input of those they aim to engage. The study introduces a participatory stakeholder model for M&E based on the experiences of Uganda National Teachers' Union (UNATU) Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) in Uganda. A sample of 79 members out of 94 yielded a 100% response rate for quantitative data collected through self-administered questionnaires, and 9 key informants were interviewed for qualitative insights. Quantitative data underwent descriptive, correlation, and regression analysis, while qualitative data was content-analyzed. Results revealed a significant positive link (r = 0.462**, p<0.05) between participatory planning and implementation and organizational sustainability, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The paper concludes that stakeholder participation substantially influences Organizational sustainability in UNATU SACCO. Consistent motivation, effective stakeholder engagement, and interest management are identified as contributors to heightened levels of Organizational sustainability.