ABSTRACT

 The study assessed community participation in the World Bank Assisted Rural Development and Poverty Reduction Programme in Abia State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the influence of socio-economic factors in the participation of people in rural development and poverty reduction programme, ascertained the levels of community participation at the various stages of rural development and poverty reduction programme, determined the extent to which the people perceived the World Bank Assisted Rural Development and Poverty Reduction Programme as felt needs, as well as ascertained the extent to which the programme was perceived as sustainable. It further examined the influence of community leadership, urban exposure and membership of community-based organisation(s) on people’s participation in rural development and poverty reduction programme. The study used both primary and secondary data. Four Local Government Areas (LGAs) from each of the three Senatorial Zones of Abia State were randomly chosen and two projects were randomly selected from each of the four LGAs. A total of 320 respondents were selected for the study, using purposive and random sampling techniques. Data were obtained with the aid of questionnaire structured, focused group discussion and participant observation. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentages and means. The inferential statistics used was multiple regression. Results showed that the majority, (83.13%), of the respondents were adults, within the age bracket of 36 years and above. Similarly almost all the respondents, (96.25%), were literate and most of them, (88.75%), had traveled to major towns, with cosmopolitan orientation. Majority of the respondents showed a high level of participation in the World Bank Assisted Rural Development Programme at the various stages of the programme as follows: conceptualization stage (71.56%), planning stage (58.12%), implementation stage (74.06%), monitoring and evaluation stage (67.81%). While most of the people, (96.88%), perceived the various projects as their felt needs, a majority, (98.75%), similarly, agreed that their participation in the programme was influenced by their free choice of the various projects. Furthermore, a majority (82.81%) of the respondents indicated that community leadership had positively influenced people’s participation in the entire progarmme. A dominant proportion of the people, (85.94%), perceived the World Bank Assisted Development Programme as highly sustainable. Results also revealed that some socio-economic factors, including sex, age, education, income, occupation and cosmopoliteness were significant at 1%, 5%, 5%, 1%, 1%, and 1% levels respectively and positively related to community participation. Results further showed that leadership was significant at 1% level and positively related to community participation. The study recommends, among other things, that Nigerian government at all levels should adopt as a policy option, bottom-up, demand-driven participatory development approach, for delivering community services, especially in the rural communities