CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Rural development from a general
point of view is the process of improving the quality of life and economic
wellbeing of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas
(Moseley, 2003) which are also known as rural areas.
However, despite strategies put in
place in form of projects provided for rural people, many do not benefit because
of their non-involvement in the project planning process and implementation
hence, the emphasis on community participation in rural development project.
Rural development is more realistic
when people participate in the process of
Infrastructure provision because at
the heart of rural development projects are infrastructures and for the overall
goals and objectives to be met, the principle for effective community
participation must be adapted (Idachaba and Bankole, 2006).
Community participation as a
development approach for rural socioeconomic
Development is an alternative to the
top –down approach which has failed to yield the desired result because rural
dwellers who are target beneficiaries were not carried along initially (Bankole,
2007). The term has been conceptualized in different ways in the literature as
either public, people or citizen participation, however they all have the same
focus, which is rural development (Oakley, 1991 and Afolayan, 2008). Participation
is all about inclusiveness, social justice and common good which shows that
rural development is community based when people in communities determine their
needs and aspiration. This is because
it is realized that by so doing large
numbers of marginalized rural people can be reached effectively by the
government and other types of developmental projects supported by international
agencies like Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization
(WHO and FAO, 1991).
The improvement in living standard of
people through popular participation is thus
central to the concept of rural development (Adedayo, Taiwo and Medupin, 1991).
Therefore, community participation serves as pivot for whatever successful
process rural development is trying to achieve in rural communities.
Rural infrastructures are indeed the
pivot of rural development because they increase rural productivity and income,
improve rural living conditions and facilitate spatial integration of rural
settlements into national development landscape (Bankole, 2006). Rural
development is achieved through tangible projects and resource distribution.
Improving rural development projects
is one of the greatest challenges facing many rural dwellers at present.
Although Obubra local government council have already
Executed and still have some on-going
projects as strategies for rural development, the pattern and level of
community participation in such projects are yet to be appreciable. Nhlakanipho
(2010) also opined that the rural poor have not really participated in sharing
the benefits from the enormous development efforts of the last three decades in
proportion to their needs.
Unless the rural communities are
given opportunities to participate in rural development interventions designed
to improve their condition of living, the level of spatial inequalities among
regions will tend to increase. It therefore becomes of research interest to
analyse the processes involved in provision of rural projects in Obubra local
government area, perhaps absence of community participation may be a factor in
the under achievement of the desired objectives and this calls for the present
study.
STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Socio cultural activities and rural
development projects placed so much emphasis on participation of the
communities or beneficiaries because of multiple merits of participatory
approach hence some studies have been conducted on the subject. Olisa and
Obiukwu (1992) saw community participation as an important element to speedy
socio –economic transformation of rural areas therefore it cannot be over
looked.
Afolayan (2008) examined community
participation in infrastructure provision using medium sized communities in
Kwara State. The study revealed that a high level of community participation in
projects such as schools, electricity, roads, water, market/stalls, health
facilities and town halls influenced the functional structure in medium sized
communities. The United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP) Niger Delta
report (2006) also referred to community participation as the process that
unites the efforts of the people themselves with those of the government
authorities.
Dzinavatonga (2008) investigated
community participation and project sustainability in rural Zimbabwe using
Sangwe communal land in Chiredzi as a case study. The author employed purposive
sampling technique for interviews with key informants in the community and
random sampling in selection of communities in the wards for the field survey.
The author’s findings revealed that there is a need for the government and
non–governmental organization (NGOs) to facilitate the creation of a community
based network programme that ensures the participation of the rural communities
in project planning and implementation.
However, facilitation does not mean
the facilitators dictate to the communities what to do but provide the
necessary conducive environment for the community
to institute this community-based
network programme. This is because it is through such network the rural
communities participate actively in the realization of sustainable projects in
Sangwe.
Rural development projects have been
embarked upon by many communities based on self –help informed by the
realization that no government can meet all the needs of all the rural
communities (Adedayo, 2000). Nonetheless, the government should make provision
of these projects because the fact remains that there can be no meaningful
rural development without the effective harnessing of the potentialities of the
rural communities. Besides, numerous government policy directives at ensuring
availability and accessibility of these services to all administrative units in
the country have seemingly not yielded expected results in the study area.
Although community participation is
at the centre of rural development and should be one of the foremost
pre-requisites in development process both from procedural and philosophical
perspectives, none of these studies (Olisa and Obiukwu, 1992;
McNeil, 1993; Olawepo, 1997; Adesope
et al,2000; Adedayo, 2000; Oyebanji, 2000; Ofuoku, 2011; Ogunleye and
Oladehinde, 2013) have focused on rural communities in Obubra local government
area.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Based on this research work, the
following research questions are posed: -
i.
What types
of socio –economic development projects are embarked upon by the communities in
the Obubra local government area rural dwellers?
ii.
What is
the contribution of the community to rural projects in the Obubra local
government area rural dwellers?
iii.
What is
the level of community participation in rural projects?
iv.
How are
the rural community projects maintained in the Obubra local government area
rural dwellers?
v.
What are
the constraints to community participation in rural socio-economic development
projects?
STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS
A hypothesis is a tentative statement
linking two or more variable in a correlation to establish a relationship that,
further subjection to test will confirm such relationship as either positive or
negative. The following are the two hypotheses that are to be tested.
Ho: There is
no significant relationship between community development project participation
and projects planning process and implementation in the Obubra local government
area
Hi:
There is significant relationship between community development project
participation and projects planning process and implementation in the Obubra
local government area
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Community participation is essential
for rural development project of Nigeria and the developing countries in
general because the idea is to improve the rural human condition. Community
participation has also been perceived in various sectors of the economy to mean
improvement in the quality of life of the rural communities which can be
further classified as socioeconomic development which include education,
health, water, electricity etc. (Obateru, 2003).
This study is necessary because
findings will assist Obubra local government council, traditional authorities and
other development agencies such as community workers to consider different
approaches of involving rural dwellers in their rural development projects. Various
stakeholders would identify the role which they might play at the beginning of
the development process to prevent obstacles that lead to poor community
participation. Community members would also contribute by suggesting strategies
which the community leaders can use to regain and maintain the sustainability
of the community.
The findings of this study will also
complement other existing studies by contributing immensely to the literature
on the socio cultural activities of rural dwellers and implementation of
community development projects. Lastly, this study will provide reference
resources for intending student researchers in this area.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The study is on the socio
cultural activities of rural dwellers and implementation of community
development projects in Obubra Local Government Area. This study is limited to rural
dwellers of the said Obubra local government.
Despite the limited scope of this
study certain constraints were encountered during the research of this
project. Some of the constraints
experienced by the researcher were given below:
i. TIME: This was a major constraint on the
researcher during the period of the work. Considering the limited time given
for this study, there was not much time to give this research the needed
attention.
ii. FINANCE: Owing to the financial difficulty
prevalent in the country and it’s resultant prices of commodities,
transportation fares, research materials etc. The researcher did not find it
easy meeting all his financial obligations.
iii. INFORMATION
CONSTRAINTS:
Nigerian researchers have never had it easy when it comes to obtaining
necessary information relevant to their area of study from respondents. The people
in all these local area are finding it difficult to express their opinion in English
about their community development projects. The primary information was
collected through face-to-face interview getting the published materials on
this topic meant going from one library to other which was not easy.
Although these problems
placed limitations on the study, but it did not prevent the researcher from
carrying out a detailed and comprehensive research work on the subject matter.
CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
This work is organized in five
chapters and appendices as follows:
CHAPTER ONE:
In this section the introduction to the work is made and the whole idea of this
study presentation, like objective of the study, the researcher question and
the formulated hypothesis, statement of the research, area of coverage,
limitation and definition of terms all this makes up the chapter one.
CHAPTER TWO:
This section deals with the review of study, review of concept, theories upon
which this work is built on as its theoretical framework, the empirical study
for this work and some potential issues in the study.
CHAPTER THREE:
This section talks about the research methodology, the calculation for the
research population and the research presentation format, also the test for the
reliability for source of data is tested.
CHAPTER FOUR:
In this chapter the study is presented and all the analysis to it, is made,
also, discussion and findings to the current study is drawn and a summary to
the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE:
These chapter summaries the whole work done and make possible recommendation
and suggest other points to be included into the work for future propose.
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