ABSTRACT

The study investigated the Poverty Reduction Strategies and Community Development programmes adopted by Presidents General in South East, Nigeria. The study was guided by eight research questions and six null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted Descriptive Survey and Correlational Research Designs. The population of the study was 2,285 Presidents-General of registered Town Unions in the five South Eastern States namely Enugu, Abia, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi States.  The sample of the study was made up of 165 Presidents-General of registered Town Unions from the selected states which was derived using the Taro Yarmane Sampling Formula. Two instruments which were the “Poverty Reduction Strategies Scale” (PRSS) and Community Development Scale” (CDS) were developed by the researcher for data collection. The two instruments were validated by three experts which comprised two from Community Development and one expert from Measurement and Evaluation all in College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The stability coefficient of the instruments were 0.82 and 0.78 for the “poverty reduction strategies scale “(PRSS)” and community development scale” (CDS) respectively. Also the internal consistencies of the PRSS and CDS were 0.89 and 0.78 respectively. Mean, Standard deviation were used to answer research questions one and two; Pearson’s r, R² (coefficient of determination) was used to answer the research questions three to eight; linear regressions were used to test hypotheses one to seven while Multiple Regressions were used to test null hypotheses six at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that the Community Development programmes in South East, Nigeria are low; Poverty reduction strategies such as community participation, entrepreneurship,skill acquisition, agricultural development and women empowerment were adopted to a low extent; There was a significant high positive relationship between the joint poverty reduction strategies(community participation, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition agricultural development women empowerment) and community development programmes.Joint poverty reduction strategies (community participation, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, agricultural development women empowerment) had 85.7% contribution incommunity development programmes. However, community participationhad the highest percentage contribution of 79.1%, followed by women empowerment with 72.3%, skill acquisition with 56.3%, entrepreneurship with 51.8% and lastly agricultural development with 46.2% relative contribution. Summarily, in South East, Nigeria.It was thus recommended among others that the government and community leaders should ensure that poverty reduction strategies such as community participation, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, agricultural development and women empowerment were adopted to a higher level and that community members are involved in the identification, planning, and implementation of community development programmes.