Abstract

Despite the increasing presence of NGOs in development aid, it is quite worry some that the contributions of the intended beneficiaries tend to be neglected. This in turn affects negatively the sustainability of development projects or initiatives that are aimed at meeting community needs. The communities instead of being regarded as active participants they are usually regarded as passive recipients of charity efforts. This study therefore sought to establish the effectiveness of community participation using Participatory Rural Approach in development programming. Qualitative methodology was employed to design, amass and make an analysis of the data. Formative and summative evaluation designs were employed in this study. Key findings from the study were that despite a deep theoretical understanding by the respondents, comprehensive community participation was a necessity that is still far-fetched. It also revealed that participation was mainly hindered by donor bias of NGOs, funding issues and geographical factors. Lack of participation thereof was found to be the main reason behind the failure of projects after funding phase. Considering the findings of this study, it is justifiable to reason that community members holds the expectation that NGO funding and support should be endless. However, considering that NGOs have lifespan outside which the community is envisaged as capable to self-guarantee, this is not an attainable expectation.

Keywords

Community Participation, Development, Empowerment, Sustainable Development