Community participation and sustainability of the community and social development projects in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study identified development projects instituted under the CSDP, ascertained extent of community participation at every critical stage of the project and determined whether perceived sustainability of CSDPs was significantly related to community participation in Kwara State. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Structured interview schedule was used for data collection while percentages, mean scores and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) were used for data analysis. Community participation in organization of and attendance at meeting and financial contribution was high with weighted mean scores of 1.62 and 1.50, respectively, but low in most other project components. There was significant but positive relationship between age (r = 0.25), estimated monthly income (r = 0.26) and perceived sustainability (r = 0.31) and community participation at p ≤ 0.01. In contrast, there was significant but inverse relationship between community participation and number of project executed (r = -0.25). In conclusion, extent of community participation was low in most project components and community participation tended to increase with higher monthly income, fewer number of projects individual participated in, and higher perceived sustainability of the projects. Stakeholders of the CSDPs at government’s and grassroots’ levels should allow for more engagement of the people at all components of the CSDPs and the local communities should take on fewer projects at a time so as to enhance community participation.

Keywords: Community participation, CSDP, participatory development, perceived sustainability, gender balance