An Assessment of Critical Success Factors Affecting Public Sector Projects: A Case of Shinyanga Municipality

It is a justifiable fact that there is a substantial amount of funds from local and foreign aid invested in Tanzania public sector projects, targeting to facilitate development and alleviate poverty in the community. However, the effectiveness of these funds remains uncertain as many among these projects are reported that does not meet the planned objectives. The main objective of this study was to assess the critical success factors influencing public sector projects’ success in public Sector projects in Shinyanga Municipality, Tanzania. A Cross-sectional research design was deployed in Shinyanga Municipality in Shinyanga region. Using a purposive sampling technique, a total of 132 project implementers were selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS for windows version 23.0. Descriptive binary analysis using frequencies and percentages were conducted. The findings revealed that there is significant strong positive relationship between critical success factors and project success. Results showed that critical success factors explain 99.5% of project success variations. The researcher recommended that policy makers should establish effective strategies that reflect critical success factors and adopt an efficacious follow up technique to assist public projects meet the intended objectives. Since the linkage between project management practices and project success is inevitable, critical management practices such as monitoring, evaluation and client satisfaction should be re-considered for nourishment and sustainability of public sector projects. Key words: Critical Success Factors, Public Sector and Project Success