COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN SUSTAINABILITY OF HEALTHCARE AND WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS IN BAUCHI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020-01-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria
Abstract
The study examine the causes of development projects failure and abandonment and the
relationship between community participation in sustainability of health &water supply
projects in the selected ten(10) communities of Bauchi local government Areas,Bauchi State-
Nigeria. The study ascertain whether community participation in development projects
engender their sustainability. The major assumption of this study is that community
participation and ownership of development projects do significantly impact on their
sustainability. The study adapted “System Theory popularized byLudwing von Bertalanffy.
The data collected both from primary and secondary sources using structured questionnaires,
interviews and observation of the both healthcare and water supply projects. On the other
hand, secondary data collected fromthe council minute of meetings, projects reports, projects
estimates and community minutes. Data collected from structured questionnaire were
analysed usingboth descriptive andinferential statistics tools (frequency, tables and
percentage)whereas Chi-squire non-parametric test was used to testhypotheses. The study
conducted in ten (10) communities and sampled drawn from both male and female of the
communities including their leaders and officials of the Local Government. The result from
ten selected communities shows that the local government has failed to provide opportunities
for people to participate in their development process. The problems of un-sustainable
situation of facilities as identified by the study is largely attributed to the failure of local
government to provide opportunity for beneficiaries to be partners in the provisions of
facilities. The study therefore, revealed that local government officials do not respect
community inputs in development process and do not consider them as partners in providing
community solution.The results of the two hypotheses show that local government officials
and communities members had no significant differences on their view about community
participation lead to projects sustainability and projects reflected on community felt-needs
lead to higher projects achievement. The study therefore, recommended that to attain
sustainability, development projects must be stepped down to the basic level of understanding
of local communities and they must be deeply involved in the entire projects cycle; they must
be made to comprehend and appreciate the project, its dynamics and dimensions including
intended benefits as well as impacts of the projects so that communities can willing to accept
and own the project. This can also stimulate benefiting communities to sort and utilise
available resources whether local knowledge, know-how, experiences, materials and finances
to keep the project going and functional for both intra-generational benefits even without
continue support from outside.