ABSTRACT
The study was aimed at assessing the extent of the utilization of community mobilization
strategies in the implementation of community development projects in South-East States,
Nigeria. To guide the study, five research questions were formulated with the intention of
ascertaining the extent of utilization of capacity building for stakeholders, formation of
community coalitions, direct engagement of community members and creation of partnership
with organizations as community mobilization strategies in the implementation of community
development projects in South-East States, and the challenges affecting the effective
utilization of community mobilization strategies in the implementation of community
development projects in South-East States, Nigeria. Also, four null hypotheses were tested at
.05 level of significance and used to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was
used. The population of the study was 1,747 community development officers and local
government executive members of town unions in South-East States from where a sample of
1, 073 was drawn using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for the
study was a 48-item self-designed questionnaire called Utilization of Community
Mobilization Strategies Questionnaire (UCOMSQ). The instrument was face validated by
three experts and its reliability was ensured using Cronbach alpha estimate. Reliability coefficient
of .92 was obtained. Weighted mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing
the collected data. Copies of the instrument were administered to the respondents through
direct delivery technique. Findings of the study revealed that capacity building for
stakeholders, formation of community coalitions and direct engagement of community
members were utilized to a moderate extent as community mobilization strategies in the
implementation community development projects, while the creation of partnership with
organizations was utilized to a little extent. Two out of the four null hypotheses were rejected
showing that there were significant differences in the mean ratings of community
development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to which capacity
building for stakeholders and formation of community coalitions were utilized in the
implementation of community development projects in South-East States. Based on the
findings of the study, recommendations were proffered which included that state
governments should effectively strengthen communities’ ownership of development projects
in the various communities, both urban and rural, and that state governments should
encourage communities to form partnerships with federal, state and local governments, and
even international agencies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i
APPROVAL PAGE ii
CERTIFICATION iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES ix
ABSTRACT x
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 12
Purpose of the Study 14
Significance of the Study 14
Research Questions 17
Hypotheses 17
Scope of the Study 18
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 20
Conceptual Framework 21
Concept of utilization 21
Concept of implementation 22
Concept of community development 25
Concept of community mobilization 32
Theoretical Framework 62
Management By Objectives (MBO) Model 63
General Systems Theory 64
Theory of Organizational Change 68
Review of Related Empirical Studies 73
Studies relating to capacity building as a strategy for community Mobilization 73
Studies relating to formation of community coalition as a strategy for
community mobilization 95
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Studies relating to direct engagement of community members as a strategy for
community mobilization 77
Studies relating to creation of partnership with organization as a strategy for
community mobilization 81
Challenges affecting the effective utilization of community mobilization strategies 83
Summary of the Reviewed Literature 87
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD 90
Design of the Study 90
Area of the Study 90
Population of the Study 91
Sample and Sampling Technique 92
Instrument for Data Collection 92
Validation of the Instrument 93
Reliability of the Instrument 94
Procedure for Data Collection 94
Method of Data Analysis 95
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS 96
Research Question One 96
Research Question Two 100
Research Question Three 104
Research Question Four 108
Research Question Five 112
Summary of Major Findings 114
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS 117
Discussion of the Findings 117
Educational Implications of the Study 130
Conclusion 133
Recommendations 135
Limitations of the Study 137
Suggestions for Further Research 137
REFERENCES 139
APPENDICES 148
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Appendix 1: Questionnaire 148
Appendix 2: Population and Sample Distribution 155
Appendix 3: Questionnaire Return Rate 156
Appendix 4: Computations 157
Appendix 5: Validates’ Comments 177
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Community development covers all forms of developmental activities in a community.
It is aimed at the improvement of persons either as individuals, groups or society at large and their
living situation. It is also aimed at securing the active participation and co-operation of the
people in every community programme that is designed to raise their standard of living and
promote their development in every form. Omoruyi (2001) noted that community development
was first used in 1948 at the Cambridge Conference on African Administration that was organized
by the British Colonial Office. Then, community development was taken to mean the same thing
as mass education. Community development was therefore regarded as a movement designed to
promote better living for the whole community with the active participation and if possible on the
initiative of the community (Obetta, 2014).
Universally, community development is accepted to mean the process by
which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of governmental
authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities to
integrate these communities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully
to national progress (Hyman in Obetta, 2004). Community development is therefore a process
which seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the
skills needed to affect change in their own communities. These skills are often concentrated
around building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a
common agenda.
Community development, according to Anyanwu (1999), marks the stage in the life of
a community at which the people plan and act together for the satisfaction of their felt-needs
through programme formulation and implementation. The programmes of community
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development usually grow out of deliberate efforts to bring about social change in
communities. Adequacies of community facilities and services, opportunities for
employment, quality of the community environment are elements in the life-wire of any
community. Lee (2003) stated that community development is rooted in a broad understanding
of citizenship that sees people as having a right to influence and participate in the decisions that
affect them and to have their experiences and views listened to and acted on. It is potentially a
means or process whereby people can achieve such a right. This, therefore, can result to
participation in decision-making and collective action, leading to an agenda of social inclusion
and amelioration of poverty. In essence, the delivery of community development and social
welfare services is a human right well enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Charter (1995).
Over three decades, the approach to delivering community development and social welfare
services has been changing from time to time. Presently, a bottom-top service delivery
approach is in vogue. The approach implies that the beneficiaries of a service are helped to
understand their problems and take part in suggesting and providing possible interventions
towards solving that particular problem. In other words, bottom-top service delivery approach
is a demand-driven approach showing that communities are helped to identify a problem
affecting them and hence, the need to solve it (Twebaze, 2003).
The bottom-top approach contrasts sharply the top-bottom approach where the
bureaucrats thought over problems for the communities and suggest interventions on their
behalf. The top-bottom approach presupposes that communities have no capacity to
understand their problems nor do they have any capacity to suggest any meaningful
intervention to solve their problems (Obetta & Okide, 2011). This type of approach became
so popular during the colonial and post-colonial era up to the 1980s (Cinara, 2004). The topbottom
approach had short-comings as their services did not march the communities’ needs.
Also, the communities had to look at the interventions as foreign and impositions on them.
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The institutions and facilities were looked at as “government things” and not those of the
communities. It means that the government either keeps servicing them or they collapse soon
after installation (United Nations’ International Children’s Education Fund, UNICEF, 2000).
Moreover, the institutions and facilities provided broke down when government funding and
responsibility dwindled. Hence, the top-bottom approach failed to yield the expected results.
This scenario, according to Obetta (2014), led to the adoption of bottom-top approach since
last two decades. UNICEF further asserted that in Nigeria, the bottom-top approach has been
adopted since the early 1990s as community development projects cannot be undertaken
successfully without the bottom-top approach. The bottom-top approach entails mobilizing
the communities, getting them involved, educating them to focus and prioritize their pressing
community development needs. Once they identify their needs, they are further helped to
identify interventions to solve such needs. The bottom-top approach is also referred to as a
demand-driven approach because it translates into equity possession of properties resulting
from a consultative approach process. The community therefore cares for the institutions and
facilities, operate them and maintain them effectively and efficiently as they are aware that
the institutions and facilities belong to them.
In order to strengthen the effective and efficient care for the institutions and facilities
(including their operation and maintenance), community mobilization was introduced. The
idea of community mobilization was initiated by UNICEF and has since been adopted by
other development partners including World Bank, United Nations’ Development Programme
(UNDP), African Development Bank (ADB), Department for International Development
(DFID) and United Nations’ (UN) Habitat in collaboration with line ministries such as
Agriculture and Rural Development, Environment, Health and Education among others
(Parker, 1996). Initially, development partners could take on projects individually but
presently, a common basket has been established where community developmental funds are
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pooled and budgeted among projects including component allocations for community
mobilization.
Community mobilization is an important means for introducing the demanddriven/
bottom-top approach. It is an initial stimulus for communities to get involved and
participate in developmental projects in the community. Although community mobilization
shares many characteristics with related concepts such as empowerment and participation, its
major emphasis is on collective advocacy and organization as credible community members
can enthusiastically support community development programmes when well informed. As
an intervention tool in community development programmes, community mobilization seeks
to create social change by building awareness and empowering community members to take
charge of their own development through engaging in a collective and interactive process
(Parker, 1996). Community mobilization, according to Save the Children Federation (2012),
is a process through which action is stimulated by a community itself, or by others. Such
action is planned, carried out, and evaluated by a community’s individuals, groups, and
organizations on a participatory and sustained basis to improve their living standard.
Community mobilization produces a growing autonomy and conscience as it is a
continual and communicational, educational and organizational process. Above all,
community mobilization enables community members to participate in all possible ways
through the contribution of ideas, materials and finances. Mobilization is a very powerful
empowerment tool for the communities to own interventions that are intended to solve their
problems. Community mobilization helps in the formation of management committees and
also encourages the management committees to be gender-balanced. In this way, the
communities become part and parcel of their own problem-solving apparatus.
Community mobilization is a continuous process in the society that is aimed at
bringing the society together for the purpose of generating ideas in relation to the problems
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they face or meeting their needs with the help of a facilitator (Memon 2004, and Michau &
Naker, 2003). Mobilization aims at creating awareness and empowering the community to
identify their problems, prioritize them, suggest interventions to solve these problems and
find means of sustaining such interventions. Furthermore, mobilization can also be referred to
as a process that is aimed at enticing adequate community participation of stakeholders in the
community project management activity process including planning and design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation (Gou, 2001). The ultimate benefits of community
mobilization include the improvement in the quality of life for the rural communities and
reduction in operation and maintenance costs which can be used to extend community
development and social welfare services to un-served populations (Howard-Grabman, 2000).
Community mobilization is needed in communities because decentralization and
democratization require increased community level decision-making. Save the Children
Federation (2012) noted that community mobilization is needed in communities because
communities have different needs and problems, different cultures, beliefs and practices.
Therefore, one programme may not fit in or be acceptable in all the communities. Also,
community mobilization builds mechanisms and systems to sustain health improvements.
Social structures and norms may need to be changed if true access to information and
services is to be achieved by those who mostly need them. Therefore, community
mobilization can help to facilitate these changes. Community mobilization can increase
community members’ awareness of their right to decent treatment and can strengthen
members’ ability to claim these, and can also help to bring additional resources to the
community. Through community mobilization, communities can apply political pressure to
improve services. Empowering community mobilization approaches can strengthen
community members’ skills and capacity to address the underlying causes of community
problems and reduce barriers to access of information and services.
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From the on-going discussions, it infers that through community mobilization,
communities can play a critical role in the process of achieving an effective continuum of
community development activities. Community mobilization can raise awareness of
community development issues and motivate people to participate in activities that have been
prioritized and planned from within the community. Otchere and Ransom (2006) stated that
community mobilization is an empowering strategy that includes carrying out careful and
formative research in order to design a locally-appropriate and specific community
mobilization strategy. It also involves selecting and training individuals who will facilitate
the community mobilization process within communities.
Other activities include raising community awareness about the local community
development projects’ situation; working with community leaders and others to invite and
organize participation of those most affected by and interested in community development
projects, exploring with community members the local practices, beliefs and attitudes that
affect community development projects, and supporting communities to set local priorities
for action. Helping community members to develop and implement their own community
action plans and working with communities to build their capacity to independently monitor
and evaluate their progress towards achieving improved standard of living are also the
activities of community mobilization.
Based on the foregoing, Tedrow, Morin, Sweat, Zelaya, Kennedy, Khumalo-
Sakutukwa and Celentano (2011) stated that community mobilization strategies include
capacity building for the stakeholders, formation of community coalitions, direct engagement
of community members, and creation of partnerships with organizations. The capacity
building for the stakeholders is an important community mobilization strategy. It involves
identifying existing community resources and assessing the gaps that exist to implement the
community mobilisation. The gaps identified are supplemented by capacity building of the
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community groups and other relevant stakeholders in the community involved in community
mobilization.
The aim of capacity building is to establish a group that can influence community
mobilization activities. It usually consists of partners that have a stake in the issue as well as
influential groups and members of the community such as formal and informal leaders and
religious and traditional leaders. Tedrow, et. al., (2011) referred to the stakeholders as
gatekeepers. These are people that are highly regarded in the communities—the chiefs, the
sub-chiefs, and any other persons in the position of leadership. These categories of people are
the ones that community development officers have to talk to first in order to open the gates
for community development officers to go down to the grassroots level and then be able to
interact with the people. The stakeholders accompany community development officers to the
people, introduce them to the people and then help them to sell their ideas to the people.
Formation of community coalitions is another community mobilisation strategy.
Community mobilization for a coalition requires recruiting a critical mass of active
participants, and engaging key community constituencies or sectors. Coalitions seek to
consolidate local power and knowledge to address substance abuse and other related
problems in the community. Lasker and Weiss (2003) emphasized that coalitions seek to
bring people together across social, economic, and political ties to address common
community interest. An essential element of an effective coalition is the creation of structures
and operations that maximize community inputs and ensure goal attainment. An effective
coalition requires a strong and stable organizational structure that clarifies roles and
procedures, and adequately addresses task and maintenance function (Florin, Mitchell,
Stevenson, & Klein, 2000).
An effective coalition creates a formalized set of structures and practices, such as
written roles and procedures (e.g., by-laws). Coalition develops and maintains quality
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organizational management strategies such as effective communication, conflict resolution,
perception of fairness, and shared decision-making. Centre for Prevention Research and
Development (2006) asserted that high levels of coalition organizational effectiveness result
in a positive work climate, higher member satisfaction and communication among committee
members. They also establish linkages with community organizations, and reduce conflict.
Coalitions require a common vision, high quality communication, strong relationships
both internally and externally, targeted outcomes, and human and financial resources to be
effective (Foster-Fishman, Berkowitz, Lounsbury, Jacobson, & Allen, 2001). The coalition
builds capacity for action by increasing members’ knowledge and skills (Florin, et. al., 2000),
and empowering individuals by getting them involved in the issues that affect their lives
(Lasker & Weiss, 2003).
Such coalitions include: Community Working Groups (CWGs) and Community-
Based Outreach Volunteers (CBOVs) (Campbell & Cornish, 2010). CBOVs are extremely
valuable assets to the community mobilization process. CBOVs help community
development officers gain trust and acceptance in communities, and disseminate information
regarding community project execution. CWGs provide another avenue for community
participation in the mobilization. The CWGs consist of local leaders, representatives from
community organizations, churches, schools, health clinics, and traditional rulers. CWGs
served as a link between communities and community development programme staff.
A third community mobilisation strategy is direct engagement of community
members through door-to-door canvassing (community/home visits), community meetings,
workshops, seminars, radio, talk, shows, staging drama, promotion weeks, distribution of
flyers and informal group discussions. Campbell and Cornish (2010) affirmed that in this
strategy, community mobilisation teams and community-based outreach volunteers engage
community members in conversations about community development projects. It is an
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excellent way of understanding the community, thereby allowing CBOVs to tailor their
messages to address local opinions. Community mobilization teams and CBOVs develop
outreach strategies and events to increase community participation in project-related
activities. The community mobilisation teams arrange sporting events, community dramas,
dancing competitions, and even movie showings in some sites. Sometimes, local celebrities
and community leaders would attend these events, dramatically increase participation. These
events are ways of raising community awareness about projects in the community.
Creation of partnerships with organizations is another mobilization strategy. In a
community, there are various partners that work independently to achieve similar goals.
Therefore, it is important to identify relevant partners through a simple mapping exercise.
With respect to community development programmes, religious institutions, communitybased
organisations (CBOs), governmental agencies and international agencies, among others
are relevant also as partners. Community mobilization staff establishes partnerships with
community organizations. By forming partners, project teams utilize pre-existing forums to
disseminate their information. For example, mobilization teams attend immunization
campaigns in partnership with government health clinics, facilitate sessions during
community meetings called by other organizations, gave presentations in churches, and used
schools as forum to mobilize youth (Campbell & Cornish, 2010). Mobilization teams also
develop partnerships to address needs and issues raised by communities. Also, partnerships
help to enhance the sustainability of the community mobilization.
In South East of Nigeria, there are five states namely; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu
and Imo States. These states have numerous autonomous communities located both in urban
and rural areas. Community development is needed in both areas. Hence, Mabogunje (1999)
emphasized that development is essentially a human issue as it is concerned with the capacity
of individuals to realize their inherent potentials and effectively cope with the change in
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circumstances of their lives. It also involves the total mobilization of a society towards a
self-centred and self-reliant position with regard to not only the processes of decision-making
but also, in production and consumption patterns. Community mobilization is indispensible to
the effective execution of development projects and as such, community development
officers are at the fore-front in the community mobilization process. This is because they are
experts in the area. Therefore, there is the need for the community development officers to
mobilize community members for effective involvement in the social, economic and political
advancement of their communities. It is therefore important that in mobilizing communities
for development process, none of these two facets of communities (urban and rural) in the
South-East States of Nigeria should be neglected.
After the Nigeria/Biafra civil war of 1967 – 1970, there was improvement in the
formation of indigenous community development organizations in both rural and urban
communities in the present South-East States. Most of these communities, in a bid to grow,
adopted community mobilization strategy. Prominent among the community development
organizations is the town union. It is located in the community, as an association that belongs
to the community, established by the community and for the community (Warner, et. al.,
2006). The community development officers help the town unions by employing community
mobilization strategies in addressing some community development issues. Such issues
include the implementation of primary health care, rural water supply and sanitation,
leadership development, rural credits, eradication of illiteracy, agricultural projects, rural
electrification projects, rural feeder-road and maintenance projects, and income-generation
projects. The community mobilization strategies employed are building capacity for the
stakeholders, formation of community coalition, direct engagement of community members
and creation of partnership with organizations.
In Enugu State, there are instances where communities have been mobilized by
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community development officers. The employment of the mobilization strategies such as
capacity building, coalition formation, direct engagement of community members, and
partnership creation with organizations have resulted in the completion of health centres at
Nguru-Nsukka, Ozzi-Edem and Ezebunagu, respectively. Others are provision of 86 desks for
primary school pupils at Nguru-Nsukka; sinking of bore-hole at Nru-Nsukka, construction of
rural feeder road at Anuka, building of secondary school science laboratory block and
examination hall at Edem-Ani and Breme (Eha-Ndiagu), respectively. Presently, building of
health centre is in progress in Anuka Community, all in Nsukka Local Government Area of
Enugu State. In a related development, Obetta (2009) cited instances with the sinking of borehole
projects at Uda, Enugu-Ezike in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area and Ohom-
Orba Community in Udenu Local Government Area.
In Anambra State, civic centres were built in Nimo Community of Njikoka Local
Government Area and Ukpo Community of Dunukofia Local Government Area. There were
also bore-hole projects executed in Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area and in
Abatete, Idemili North Local Government Area. In Ebonyi State, there abounds evidence of
community development projects executed by the communities through the mobilization
efforts of the community development officers. For instance, as at 2013, there are 12 microprojects
completed out of 22 embarked upon in 10 communities of Ohaozara Local
Government Area. The projects ranged from primary and secondary school buildings, handpump
and motorized bore-holes, market stalls, health centres to road construction and
maintenance (Okike, 2013). In Izzi Local Government Area, health clinic project has been
completed in Offerekpe, Ezzainyimagu Community while civic centre project is abandoned
in Mgbalukwu Community. In Afikpo South Local Government Area, Amoso Town Hall and
Ubeyi-Amoso Rest House projects are abandoned while Bux Culvert at Uzo-Ubi is
completed, all in Etiti Edda Community. In all the instances given, community development
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projects are implemented by town unions using community mobilization strategies. However,
there are still cases of abandoned and/or uncompleted community development projects in
many communities within the South-East States.
Therefore, the strengthening of communities’ capacities to solve their own problems
through community mobilization strategies is one of the fundamentals of sustainable
community development (Majale, 2003). The strengthening of communities’ capacities
makes communities to employ community mobilization strategies such as capacity building
for stakeholders, formation of community coalitions, direct engagement of community
members, and creation of partnerships with organizations in the implementation of
community development projects.
As the employment of community mobilization strategy is important in the
implementation of community development projects, the training of town unions in the
various communities by community development officers became inevitable. This is because
there are still cases of abandoned and/or uncompleted community development projects in
many communities within the South-East States. There is therefore the need to determine the
extent to which these community mobilization strategies have been utilized in the
implementation of community development projects. It is against this background that the
researcher carried out this study.
Statement of the Problem
The communities in the South-East States of Nigeria are noted for embarking on
different community development projects in the form of self-help. Over the last two
decades, the implementation of the different community development projects has been
possible through community mobilization strategies that have been applied in the various
communities by community development officers. As a result, lots of investments are
employed into the projects. Even though, some successes have been reported from the use of
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these strategies, not much is known about the extent of the success as the detailed
assessments of the effectiveness of the strategies is not readily available. Records available in
the various local government areas showed that there are many completed and commissioned
community development projects. However, there are also cases of uncompleted and/or
abandoned community development projects within the area. Without independent,
systematic and objective assessment, it is difficult to ascertain, consolidate and strengthen
good practices, discontinue or modify poor tools and deal with challenges. Furthermore, it
seems that lots of investment put into these community development projects are not
commensurate with the outcome.
More so, the level of community involvement in the planning, financing, execution,
operation and management of community development projects is still in doubt in some
communities. Without detailed assessment of the effectiveness of community mobilization in
the area of capacity building for stakeholders, formation of community coalition, direct
engagement of community members and creation of partnership with organizations, it is
difficult to justify the extent to which community mobilization strategies are utilized in
community development projects. Hence, as at present it is not possible to state the extent to
which the various town unions in the South-East States have been mobilized by community
development officers to implement community development projects using community
mobilization strategies. Therefore, the problem of the study posed as a question is: To what
extent have community mobilization strategies in terms of capacity building for stakeholders,
formation of community coalitions, direct engagement of community members, and creation
of partnerships with organizations been utilized in the implementation of community
development projects in South-East States of Nigeria?
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Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this research is to determine the extent of the utilization of
community mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development
projects in South-East States of Nigeria. Specifically, the study was to:
1. ascertain the extent to which capacity building for stakeholders has been utilized as
community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development
projects in South-East States.
2. determine the extent to which formation of community coalitions has been utilized as
community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development
projects in South-East States.
3. find out the extent to which direct engagement of community members has been
utilized as community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community
development projects in South-East States.
4. find out the extent to which partnering with organizations has been utilized as
community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development
projects in South-East States.
5. find out the challenges affecting the utilization of community mobilization strategies in
the implementation of community development projects in South-East States.
Significance of the Study
The findings of the study are practically expected to be of significance to the
following: people of South-East States of Nigeria, researchers, community development
professionals, scholars and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the three tiers of
government, and the initiators, organizers, mobilizers, members of town unions, community
mobilization policy developers, community leaders and service providers in the zone. The
results of the study will help people of South-East States to understand the aims and
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objectives of community mobilization strategies to adopt which will enable them
carryout their roles effectively. The results of the study when published are expected to
help them to find out better ways of executing community development projects in their
respective communities through active co-operation and participation.
The findings of this study are expected to assist and challenge researchers,
community development professionals, and scholars in community mobilization and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) in finding out various ways through which community
mobilization strategies can be utilized for the implementation of community development
projects in the society. The community mobilization researchers, community development
professionals, and scholars will do that by educating the members of community
development organizations in the zone on the need for the utilization of community
mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development projects. The
findings of the study will also encourage the community mobilization researchers,
community development professionals, and scholars to join in the building of capacity
for improved community mobilization.
The findings of this study are expected to benefit the three tiers of government. It
will expose the government to a variety of supportive functions in various communities
thereby shifting from being implementers of community development projects to being
facilitators of community development projects. The findings will also create awareness on
part of the government on the need for training of the members of community development
organizations on the utilization of community mobilization strategies in the planning,
financing, implementation and maintenance of community development projects. The
findings will help the government in the proper dissemination of information and offering of
technical and managerial assistance to community development organizations members and
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community stakeholders on matters pertaining to adequate utilization of community
mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development projects.
The initiators, organizers, mobilizers and members of town unions in the South-East
States will find this work very useful as a working document. The findings will enable them
cope with many problems that affect the effective utilization of community mobilization
strategies in the implementation of community development projects in the zone. The findings
of the study through the objective assessment of community mobilization strategies will help
to identify weaknesses and suggest ways of dealing with these weaknesses. It will help to
identify other factors that were previously ignored in community mobilization but are clearly
vital to successful implementation of community development projects. If well utilized, the
findings of the study will help to improve the effectiveness of community mobilization
methods and hence raise the level of community participation thereby producing greater
users’ responsibility in operations and maintenance of community development projects and
improve the sustainability of investments in community development projects. The findings
of the study are also expected to improve the quality of life of the rural communities and
reduce the operation and maintenance costs.
The community mobilization policy developers will find this piece of work very
useful. It will enable the experts in policy development to formulate policies in community
development that will utilize community mobilization strategy in community projects’
development. It will also enable them to rise up to the challenges of investigating, at the
grassroots level, the impact of political, economic, educational, health and agricultural
development policy planning, financing and implementation on community development
projects in Nigeria.
Finally, the findings of this study will be useful to the community leaders and service
providers. It will enable them to use the general system theory to mobilize and motivate
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members of community development organizations in the execution of various community
development projects within their locality. The findings will also enable them to improve on
the result-oriented management and clarification of organizational roles and structures in the
development of community projects.
Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated and posed to guide the study:
1. To what extent has capacity building for the stakeholders been utilized as community
mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in
South-East States?
2. To what extent has formation of community coalitions been utilized as community
mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in
South-East States?
3. To what extent has direct engagement of community members been utilized as
community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development
projects in South-East States?
4. To what extent has creation of partnerships with community organizations been utilized
as community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development
projects in South-East States?
5. What are the challenges affecting the utilization of community mobilization strategies
in the execution of community development projects in South-East States?
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated and tested at .05 level of
significance:
H01 There is no significant difference (P<.05) in the mean ratings of community
development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to
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which capacity building for the stakeholders have been utilized as community
mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in
South-East States.
H02 There is no significant difference (P<.05) in the mean ratings of community
development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to
which formation of community coalitions have been utilized as community
mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in
South-East States.
H03 There is no significant difference (P<.05) in the mean ratings of community
development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to
which direct engagement of community members have been utilized as community
mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in
South-East States.
H04 There is no significant difference (P<.05) in the mean ratings of community
development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to
which creation of partnerships with organizations have been utilized as community
mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in
South-East States.
Scope of the Study
The study focused on the utilization of community mobilization strategies in the
implementation of community development projects in South-East States of Nigeria. The
study was restricted to only the community development officers and executive members of
the registered town unions at the local government level in all the five states of the South-
East States of Nigeria, comprising Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. The study
further focused on assessment of the extent to which capacity building for stakeholders,
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formation of community coalitions, direct engagement of community members, and creation
of partnerships with organizations are utilized as community mobilization strategies in the
implementation of community development projects in South-East States.
Finally, the study determined the challenges affecting the utilization of community
mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development projects in South-
East States of Nigeria.
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