Assessment of Youths Involvement in Self-help Community Development Projects in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of the study was to assess the involvement of youths in self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Specifically, the study sought to:
- Identify the self-help community development projects embarked upon by communities in the study Areas in Nsukka Local Government
- Ascertain the extent of youth involvement in the planning of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government
- Find out the ways youths involved in the implementation of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government
- Ascertain how youths involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the review of related literature to the study.
The literature was reviewed under the following sub-headings:
Conceptual Framework
- The Concept of Assessment
- The Concept of Youth
- The Concept of Involvement
- The Concept of Self-Help
- The Concept of Community Development
Self-help Community Development Projects Involved in by Communities Development Projects
Youths Involvement in the Monitoring and Evaluation of self-help Community Development Projects Constraints to Youths Involvement in Self-help Community
Theoretical Framework
- Democratic Theory
- Conscientization Theory
- Systems Theory
Review of Empirical Studies Summary of Literature Review
Conceptual Framework
The following concepts were discussed. They are:
The concept of assessment
Assessment can be defined as the process of making judgment or forming an opinion after considering projects/programmes carefully. The general purpose of most assessment is to provide useful feedback to a variety of audiences including sponsors, donors, client-groups, administrators, staffs and other relevant constituencies (Naughton, 2003). Assessment according to Barbazette (2006) is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information which can be used to pass judgment about a particular project/programme. There is a broad consensus that the major goal of assessment should be to influence decision-making or policy formulation of the provision of empirically driven feedback (Coyle, 2000).From another perspective Ezeh (1999) opined that assessment is the process of measuring, appraising and passing judgment on the degree to which the intended objectives have been achieved. Furthermore, assessment looks at a view to determine the project, degree of success, the project impact or the benefits to all stakeholders of the projects. In the words of Fenton (1996) assessment is viewed as the collection of relevant information that may be relied on for making decisions. A plan for monitoring and assessing a project should be developed by the assessor during its proposal process. The plan should address the scope, timing and resources. As part of developing the plan, the individual responsible for conducting the assessment meets with various stakeholders to review the project objectives, scope, methods, budget and schedule to gather an understanding of the work, perceived risks, stakeholder expectations and assumptions. However, assessment is often divided into initial, formative and summative categories for the purpose of considering different objectives for assessment practices. Initial assessment can also be referred to as pre- assessment or diagnostic assessment. Initial assessment is conducted prior to instruction or intervention to establish a baseline from which projects/programmes objectives were achieved. Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course or project. It can assist an organization assess any aim, realizable concept or any alternative to help in decision-making or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regards to the aims and objectives of any project. The primary purpose of formative assessment in addition of gaining insight into prior or existing initiative is to enable reflection and assist in the identification of future change (Harrel, 1998). While summative assessment is generally carried out at the end of a course or project. Summative assessment is very important in execution of self-help community development projects, which means that they have a high point of value and can be used to ascertain whether the main objective of a project has been achieved at the end of the project. During these discussions, stakeholders are educated on the assessment process and provide input on any particular area of interest. The area of interest which the assessment process should monitor should be clearly stated. Freeman (2004) stated that the assessment process is an integral part of project planning and development that shapes the outcome of a project. The assessment process will be relevant to youth involvement in self-help community development projects by providing the youths with necessary information that are required in the execution of the self-help community development projects.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the Design of the study, Area of study, Population for the study, Sample and sampling techniques, Instrument for data collection, Validation of the instrument, Reliability of the instrument, Procedure for data collection and Method of data analysis.
Design of the Study
Survey research design was used in the collection of relevant data for the study. Nworgu (2006) stated that survey research design is the type of research design in which a group of people or items are studied by collecting and analyzing data from a sample considered to be representative of the entire group. The design is considered appropriate for this study because it seeks to elicit data from the respondents in assessing the involvement of youths in self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. In addition a qualitative method of field survey in the form of Focus Group Discussion (FGD) will also be used. Trammelan (2001) opined that Focus Group Discussion is a discussion group which examines specific subjects that have been prepared with a moderator who keeps the group to the subject under consideration. The FGD provides a two-way communication, offers time for in-depth discussion, provides immediate feedback on new information, fosters group spirit when common concerns are identified and allows for emotional as well as intellectual reaction. Hence, both quantitative and qualitative methods of field survey will be used in this study by the researcher.
Area of the Study
The area of the study was Nsukka Local Government Area. Geographically, Nsukka Local Government Area is located in the Northern part of Enugu State. It shares boundaries with Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area in the North, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area in the South, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area in the West and Udenu Local Government Area in the East.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter presents the results of the study in line with the specific purposes, research questions and hypotheses that guided the study. This was done by presenting the data in tabular form.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY
This chapter presents the following: Discussion of the findings, Conclusion, Implications, recommendations, Limitations, Suggestion for Further Studies and Summary.
Discussion of the Findings
The findings of this study are discussed following the order of the five research questions and two hypotheses that guided the study.
Research Question One
What are the self-help community development projects embarked upon by communities in Nsukka Local Government Area?
From the analysis of data (Table 4.2) rural electrification, water bore- hole project, construction of community market, construction of drainage facilities, school construction project, community recreational facilities, community health centre project and community road construction project among others are the self-help community development projects embarked upon by communities in Nsukka L.G.A as perceived by both the youths and community leaders. This is in line with Ezenyem (2005) who found out that majority of the projects in the items were same with the self-help community development projects embarked upon by various communities in Nnobi Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Research Question Two
To what extent did youths involve in the planning of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area?
The result of this question (Table 4.3) has the following items, involving in determining relevant project, involving in sequencing of the project, involving in setting the time frame of the project, taking part in allocation of responsibilities for carrying out the project, participating in determining the type of facilities and equipment needed for the project, participating in deciding the standard quality of the project and involving in budget planning.
The respondents indicated that youth involvement in the planning of self-help community development projects in Nsukka L.G.A was very low. This corroborated with Yusuf (2001) who stated that majority of the community stakeholders were not involved in planning self-help community development projects in developing countries.
Research Question Three
What were the various ways youths were involved in the implementation of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area?
Table 4.4 has the following items; Provision of funds, ensure that problems encountered in implementing the projects receives immediate corrective action, and accommodation of everybody who has some works to do in the project, provision of raw materials, harmonization of the available resources and activities to achieve the project objectives and practical application of ideas.
In all the items, the respondents agreed that youths were not effectively involved in the implementation of self-help community development project. This finding was in tandem with Anderson (2005) who found out that youths in Lima Peru were not involved in the implementation of self help community development projects.
Research Question Four
In what ways have youths involved in the monitoring and evaluation of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area?
The items in (Table 4.5) contains the following items; Checking of whether project inputs were being delivered, assessing of individual ability and weaknesses, commending good works, determining the result of a project, making suggestions for improvement, sharing information and defining action to be taken and notice of deviation from original concerns of the projects.
Based on the analysis, the respondents agreed that youths were not involved in the monitoring and evaluation of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area.
Research Question Five
What were the constraints to youth’s involvement in self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area?
Table 4.6 shows that the respondents agreed that non-challant attitude of the youths towards community development projects, poor educational background of majority of the youths, incompetent community youth organizations, conflict in the community, rural-urban migration of majority of the youths and lack of clear ideas of what the projects has to offer prevent youths from effectively involving in self-help community development projects in Nsukka L.G.A. This corroborates with Okereke (1997) who stated that majority of what was listed in the items are the constraints to youths involvement in community development projects.
Hypothesis One
Table 4.7 shows that significance of the two-tailed test of 0.634 is greater than the level of significance of 0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of male and female respondents on the self-help community development projects was upheld.
Hypothesis Two
Table 4.8 shows that significance of the two-tailed test of 0.759 is greater than the level of significance of 0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between the mean rating of community leaders and youths on the constraints to youth’s involvement in the self-help community development projects was upheld.
Conclusion
Rural electrification, construction of community market, construction of school project, construction of community health centre among others were some of the self-help community development projects embarked upon by communities in Nsukka L.G.A. Extent of youth’s involvement in the planning of self-help community development projects is low. Youths are not effectively involved in the implementation of self-help community projects in Nsukka Local Government Area.
In the same vein, youths are not effectively involved in the monitoring and evaluation of self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area. A number of constraints prevent youths from effective involvement in the self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area. They include: non-challant attitude, poor educational background of majority of the youths, incompetent community youth organizations, conflict in the community, rural-urban migration of the youths and lack of clear ideas of what the projects has to offer among others. Gender was not significant in youth’s involvement in community self- help projects. There was no significant difference between the mean rating of community leaders and youths on the constraints to youth’s involvement in self-help community development projects.
Recommendations
From the findings of the study and its implications, the following recommendations were made by the researcher.
- That various communities in the area of study and beyond should endeavour to embark on more self-help community development projects in order to cater for the needs of the people instead of concentrating on the limited projects covered by
- That community leaders should try by all possible means to effectively involve the youths in the planning of self-help community development projects, when this is done, the youths will have the sense of belonging and be more
- That community development agents and practitioners should effectively involve the youths in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of self-help community development projects in the area of study and
- That youth’s involvement in self-help community development projects will be boosted when the constraints to youth’s involvement in the projects were eliminated or reduced to the barest
- That government and non-governmental organizations should also assist various communities in the study area and beyond in their self- help community development
Limitations of the Study
There are indeed, some limitations to this study; as in survey research design, the validity of the result for generalization depends so much on the sincerity and honesty of the respondents. The researcher also encountered problems going to the communities where the respondents resided. This is because some of the communities have bad roads and the research was done during raining season.
In spite of all these limitations, the researcher was convinced that the objective of the work was achieved.
Suggestions for Further Studies
From the findings, implications and limitations of this study, the researcher resolved that further research should be conducted on the following:
- Factors inhibiting youth’s involvement in self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu
- Stake-holders perception of youth’s involvement in self-help community development projects in Nsukka local Government Area of Enugu
- Strategies of improving youth’s involvement in self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu
- Self-help community Development Projects: A panacea to youth’s restiveness in Enugu
Summary
The research is on the assessment of youths involvement in self-help community development projects in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. Five research questions and two hypotheses were formulated for the study. A thirty four item questionnaire was developed and administered to 400 youths and 8 community leaders totaling 408 respondents in Nsukka Local Government Area.
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