COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND THE SUSTAINABILITY LIKELIHOOD OF COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Poor inclusion of community members in past development projects negatively impacted their sustainability. Hence, Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) harps on social inclusion of communities in its projects to reduce conflict, enhance project quality and guarantee sustainability. Typology of community involvement in CSDP has been described in previous studies. However, empirical evidence on the influence of involvement by generation on project sustainability is scarce. Therefore, generational involvement and the Sustainability Likelihood (SL) of CSDP in Southwestern Nigeria were investigated. A four-stage sampling procedure was used. Oyo and Ekiti states were randomly selected from four CSDP participating states in Southwestern Nigeria. Four and five Local Government Areas as well as five communities each in Oyo and Ekiti states, respectively, were purposively selected based on availability of completed CSDP in the last five years. List of community members involved in CSDP was stratified into youths (18-35 years), adults (36-59 years) and elders (≥60 years). Using sampling proportionate to size, 70 youths (Male: 36; Female: 34), 120 adults (Male: 58; Female: 62) and 77 elders (Male: 44; Female: 33) were selected across communities in Oyo and Ekiti states to give 267 respondents. Interview schedule was used to collect data on respondents’ socio-economic characteristics (age, years of education, hours spent during implementation, monthly income), compliance to gender and generational inclusion principle, involvement, SL (economic, technical, social and environmental), benefits derived from involvement and constraints to involvement in CSDP using standardised scales. Indices of compliance (low: 12.00-24.50; moderate: 24.51-31.40; high: 31.41-39.00), economic SL (low: 0.50-1.68; high: 1.69-3.00), technical SL (low: 0.29-2.45; high: 2.46-3.07), social SL (low: 0.00-2.42; high: 2.43-3.00), environmental SL (low: 0.00-2.52; high: 2.53-3.14) and overall SL (low: 8.00-103.40; high: 103.41-132.00) were generated. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Pearson product moment correlation and logit regression at α0.05. Age, years of education, hours spent during implementation and monthly income were 47.32±15.91 years, 11.01±5.42 years, 4.26±3.30 hours/day and N53,430.60±52471.57, respectively. Compliance (Proportion-P=62.2%), involvement (P=59.2%), technical SL (P=65.9%), social SL (P=69.3%), environmental SL (P=68.2%), and overall SL (P=68.2%) of CSDP were high, while economic SL was low (P=54.7%). Benefits derived were enhanced interaction (2.25±0.89) and increased relevance of project to community needs (2.25±0.94). Constraints to involvement among female were inadequate fund (youth-1.38±0.80; adult- 1.10±0.80 and elderly-1.03±0.80), while inadequate time-1.47±0.70, lack of incentives- 1.12±0.80 and inflation-0.95±0.80 were the major constraints among the youths, adults and elderly male, respectively. Involvement was significantly higher among the elders (x̄=110.45) than adults (x̄=101.42) and youths (x̄=83.64). Benefits derived were significantly higher among the elders (x̄=62.55) than adults (x̄=59.18) and youths (x̄=50.66). Years of formal education (r=0.18), hours spent during implementation (r=0.15), involvement (r=0.18), benefits derived (r=0.14) and compliance (r=0.35) significantly influenced SL of CSDP. Compliance significantly influenced SL among female (youth–β=0.52; adult–β=0.40 and elders–β=0.70), while involvement of adult male (β=0.42) significantly influenced the SL of CSDP. Generational inclusion enhanced the Sustainability Likelihood of Community and Social Development Project in Southwestern Nigeria.