Households’ Participation in Community Development Programmes: Gasabo District, Rwanda

Abstract

This paper examines the factors influencing households’ participation in community development programmes in Gasabo District of Kigali City, Rwanda. Generally, the lack of capital and the absence of employment opportunities are considered to be the key reasons behind inadequate community development in Rwanda. A sample of 322 households was randomly selected for the interview through structured questionnaire during October 2015 for collecting primary data. Study findings are based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. Descriptive statistics and logit model were used to analyse the data. The findings from descriptive statistics show that 219 (68%) of the households had participated in community development programmes whereas the remaining 103 (32%) did not. It was also found that more men had participated in community development programmes than women. As compared to men, women are less motivated to participate in community development programmes. The results of logit model show that the households’ own land, land size, main occupation, total annual income and access to credit significantly influence households’ participation in community development programmes. The study recommends that there is need to encourage households to be involved in community development activities in order to overcome poverty. This study also recommends that banks, micro finance institutions and other financial institutions should provide credit to majority of the population for increasing their livelihood in Gasabo district.