Community-driven Development Projects Research Articles

Women’s Resistance: An Alternative Perspective to Women’s Participation in Community-Driven Development

Community-driven development (CDD) programs compel communities to adopt egalitarian decision-making processes for the duration of the project. However, dominant groups use their power to orchestrate a public performance of social domination and subordinated groups combat social domination via subtle acts of resistance. Rather than conceptualizing social transformation from a holistic perspective that includes subtle acts of resistance and incremental forms of self-empowerment, CDD implementation and monitoring focusses on women’s public performance in community meetings, and this approach generally fails to produce social transformation. We conducted an ethnography of an unconditional direct transfer to a village in Western Mali. We used Bourdieu’s approach to investigate how rural Malian women resist domination and empower themselves in this unfettered CDD project. We observed the women strategically submit to patriarchal forms of domination during the public decision-making processes but resist male domination over their labour. Our results suggest that CDD can better achieve enduring forms of social change when it builds off local women’s self-directed forms of resistance. To better capture women’s resistance and self-empowerment, CDD should adopt a more holistic and open impact assessment approach, such as the Most Significant Change technique and Culturally Responsive Evaluation.

Community Driven Development Projects and Youth Economic Empowerment in Ruangwa Distict, Tanzania

Community Driven Development Projects and Youth Economic Empowerment in Ruangwa Distict, Tanzania

(Mis)Conceptualising Empowerment: Flaws in Community-driven Development Project Design

Development institutions have adopted models of community development that prioritise empowerment. However, many of these models have transformed a collective, process-oriented understanding of empowerment into one that focuses on individual outcomes and results all too often in project failure. This article presents a case study of a World Bank community-driven development (CDD) project implemented in agrarian settlements in north-eastern Brazil. Using mixed methods, the article finds that because this CDD approach failed to conceptualise power differences, stemming from education, income and the rural–urban divide, it overlooked the disadvantage marginalised communities would have when interacting with technical agencies and soliciting contractors. The power differences created by these inequities enabled those very technical agencies and contractors intended to support CDD subprojects to take advantage of participant communities through providing low-quality services and products. The project also failed to provide quality technical assistance for a duration sufficient to develop the skills community members required to carry out successful, productive subprojects. These findings suggest that CDD projects need to incorporate a broader conception of empowerment that addresses group-level power differences to transform the relations between participants and those on whom they depend, and thereby contribute to project success.

Two models of community-centered development in Myanmar

Community-centered development (CCD) has gained renewed interest as a means of providing aid to fragile states. This paper aims to explore how CCD aid projects in a fragile state are shaped by distinctive ideologies. Using document reviews, stakeholder interviews, and spatial analysis, this paper analyzes two aid projects in Myanmar: the Korean government-supported Saemaul Undong (SMU, New Village Movement) and the World Bank-supported National Community-Driven Development Project (NCDDP). Each project reflects the perspectives of the developmental state and revised neoliberalism, respectively. This study finds that the intervention strategies of SMU and NCDDP differ in terms of their main agency of change, handling of power, and prioritized dimensions of development. SMU engages with government extension workers as change agents, and ties accountability to performance. By contrast, the NCDDP works with private facilitators and emphasizes the processes of inclusion. This paper suggests that one useful tool for CCD intervention is the deconstruction and integration of East Asian/Southern and Western/Northern approaches.

The Socio-economic Effect of Community-Driven Development in Conflict-affected Regions: Evidence from Cambodia

Community-driven development (CDD) has become increasingly common approach used by mul-tilateral development banks, governments, and NGOs to address the needs of the poor local communities in developing countries. CDD is characterized by the approach of giving control of decision and resources to the local community. CDD approaches are particularly prominent in conflict-affected communities which enables local community to regain sense of social cohesion and to restore livelihood. While much of literature focused on documenting the challenges and benefits of CDD approach in conflict affected context, what is yet to be established is whether CDD in conflict affected context can generate change in social and economic outcomes. Thus, this paper explores whether or not community-driven development (CDD) project af-fects a villages social capital and economic outcomes in post-conflict Cambodia. We compare the impact of CDD by looking at data from two rounds of surveys (baseline and endline). The results indicate that the project significantly strengthens the capacity of self-reliance, especially in vulnerable groups such as low-income, less educated and ethnic and religious minority house-holds. However, CDD was shown to have very limited impact on improving economic condition. Although the project slightly increases the household monthly income, the CDD project does not generate remarkable changes in community-level economic conditions. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 explains the historical background of Cambodia and the unique features of this CDD project. Section 3 describes the intervention and data collec-tion. Section 4 outlines the estimation models used in the analysis. In Section 5, we present the results of the program and explain their implications.

Influence of Participation in Community and Social Development Projects on Beneficiaries’ Income in Ondo and Kwara States, Nigeria

The study determined the influence of participation in community social development projects on household income among beneficiaries in Ondo and Kwara states, Nigeria. Specifically, it determined the extent to which respondents were aware of community-driven development projects, the level to which respondents participated in the community-driven development project and influence of CDD approach on the income of beneficiaries in the study area. A simple random sampling was used to select 6 households in each of the non-benefiting communities, thus making a total of eighty-four (84) non-beneficiaries in the two states. Primary data was collected and analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that 54.2 % of the respondents who benefitted from CSDP projects were males while 45.8% of them were females. The findings also show that 56.0% and 36.9% were aware and very much aware of education projects respectively while only 4.8% were not aware. The CSDP projects implemented among the respondents include majorly health facility (64.3%), water facility (55.9%), education (52.9%), electricity (51.2%) and socio economic (47.0%). Other CSDP projects implemented in the communities were transported (36.9%), environment (35.1%) and gender and vulnerable group’s projects (27.9%). The study also revealed that the majority (86.3%) respondents had a very high level of participation water project with a mean value of (X ̅= 3.77) while only 2.6% had a very low level of participation. Furthermore, majority (70.6%) of the respondents had a very high level of participation in health projects (X ̅= 3.58) but the level of participation was low 5.2% of them. There was a 33.4 % increment in the mean annual income among the CDD beneficiaries (X ̅=₦166542.8). The findings showed that there was a significant difference in income of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries before and after the implementation of CDD projects in the study areas with a p-value 0f 0.000. The study concluded that the CDD approach to community social development projects ensured positive outcomes of the community driven development projects

Why the poor do not benefit from community-driven development: Lessons from participatory budgeting

Abstract Community-driven development (CDD) has been identified as a potent vehicle for poverty reduction. Over 105 countries have adopted CDD projects in the hope that citizen empowerment translates to socio-economic development. But existing evidence is mixed, with some scholars arguing that CDD does not benefit the poor. This paper seeks to contribute to this literature by identifying any differentiated impact to the poor attributable to a CDD project in the Philippines. It draws on the literature on participatory budgeting to argue that participation of the socially excluded groups like the poor in the collective planning and budgeting determines the extent to which empowerment and democratization can be sustained. Using panel data collected in 2003 and 2010, the paper finds indications of elite control based on a decomposition of the profile of participants of village assemblies, which is a critical participatory institution in providing equal access to all members of the community to the deliberations and negotiations. The average participant of such village assemblies tend to be the less-poor household of the community with the participation of the poor dwindling over the years. The difference-in-difference impact estimation also reveals disappointing results for the poor. Although the project improved average household income among the poor, the project failed to enhance the social outcomes for the poor households such as participation in planning process, trust in the government and solidarity. This study adds to the existing literature showing that CDD may fail to effectively target the poor.

Participation of Women Members in a Community – driven Development Project

A community-driven development project named ‘Pudu Vazhvu’ was launched in Tamil Nadu in November 2005 with World Bank assistance. The goal of the project was to reduce poverty among the rural poor and other vulnerable groups and to promote their empowerment, through targeted assistance for productive livelihood activities, in a more enabling village environment, adopting Community Driven Development (CDD) approach. Under this project, rural women were grouped into Self Help groups to promote their livelihood status. Hence there is a need to study the CDD-SHGs effectiveness. The study was carried out in Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu as it is one of the districts in Tamil Nadu where Pudu Vazhvu project was implemented. A sample of 132 respondents was selected from two blocks (six villages) following Proportionate Random sampling technique. The present study was undertaken to find out the participation of women project members in various activities of CDD project. The study revealed that Pudu Vazhvu project SHG women members had participated in group meetings record and account maintenance, formulating the rules and regulations and in getting loans.

Social Cohesion through Community-based Development in Kyrgyzstan

Community-driven development (CDD) – a widely practiced tool by development donors and practitioners worldwide - strives to empower and develop communities by giving them joint control over aid allocations. This is expected to improve local development, local governance, and strengthen social cohesion. However, the empirical evidence for the third outcome is quite weak. This paper presents the findings of an impact evaluation research examining the extent the community driven development intervention implemented during 2014-2017 strengthened social cohesion in two regions in Kyrgyzstan. Our findings are that, on the one hand, the CDD project led to a sense of unity and cooperation and to a perception of improvements in local governance and educational services. On the other hand, the program had at best a weak effect on deep-trenched perceptions, attitudes and trust for closely related social groups and local institutions. We posit that these results obtained in part because the duration of the CDD interventions was rather short and the micro-projects were only realized in less than a half of villages in treatment sub-districts. It stands to reason that larger and longer CDD projects would have had larger impacts on social cohesion as well.

Can information outreach increase participation in community-driven development? A field experiment near Bwindi National Park, Uganda

Decentralization and community-driven development intend to bring public decisions closer to the people, yet elites often capture local institutions. One way that local elites capture community-driven development is to limit information about opportunities for citizens to shape group decisions. We investigate whether sending citizens targeted and timely information about when and how they can participate in the planning of community-driven development projects increases knowledge, participation, and satisfaction with local institutions. We implemented a pre-registered randomized field experiment in partnership with the Uganda Wildlife Authority that involved sending residents in randomly selected villages near Bwindi National Park approximately 60 messages by mobile phone over eight months about how a park-sponsored revenue sharing program worked and how and when residents could participate. We do not find evidence that the information increased perceived knowledge, participation, perceived efficacy, or satisfaction with local institutions. Exploratory findings suggest that among women, who are often disenfranchised in Ugandan society, the information treatment backfired related to perceived opportunities to participate. More positively, we find that reaching more people in a community with information led to promising results related to participation and satisfaction with the park. We conclude that informational treatments are unlikely to empower participation on average, unless they are deployed broadly and in ways that promote collective action.

Can Information Outreach Increase Participation in Community-Driven Development? A Field Experiment Near Bwindi National Park, Uganda

Decentralization and community-driven development intend to bring public decisions closer to the people, yet elites often capture local institutions. One way that local elites capture community-driven development is to limit information about opportunities for citizens to shape group decisions. We investigate whether sending citizens targeted and timely information about when and how they can participate in the planning of community-driven development projects increases knowledge, participation, and satisfaction with local institutions. We implemented a pre-registered randomized field experiment in partnership with the Uganda Wildlife Authority that involved sending residents in randomly selected villages near Bwindi National Park approximately 60 messages by mobile phone over eight months about how a park-sponsored revenue sharing program worked and how and when residents could participate. We do not find evidence that the information increased perceived knowledge, participation, perceived efficacy, or satisfaction with local institutions. Exploratory findings suggest that among women, who are often disenfranchised in Ugandan society, the information treatment backfired. More positively, we find that reaching more people in a community with information led to promising results. We conclude that informational treatments are unlikely to empower participation on average, unless they are deployed broadly and in ways that promote collective action.

Effects of Demographic Factors on Risk Management in Community Driven Development Projects in Sri Lanka: A Preliminary Study Based on 'Gemidiriya' Project

Livelihood development of poor households has been addressed through various approaches in Sri Lanka since independence. Some of these approaches have successfully addressed the issues and fulfilled the requirements of the poor households in the country. However, expectation of the poor community may change due to changing pattern of their livelihoods and needs. Community Driven Development (CDD) is the newest approach implemented for addressing these changing issues in rural areas in Sri Lanka. Though this approach is an extension of the Community Based Development process, the methods of implementation of it is different. As suggested in the literature, one of the important aspects is that project managers need to consider particularly the risk component of projects. However, this aspect is significantly lacking as far as both approaches are concerned. Sri Lanka spends a large sum of money per annum for livelihood development programmes. The outcome of such programmes depend on the capacity and the demographic factors of the rural organizations that take the responsibility of implementing such programmes. Accordingly, this paper aims at examining the effect of demographic factors on the nature of risk management of CDD projects in Sri Lanka. The results of this study will provide a background for future researchers related to similar risk management issues. This will be an eye opener to policy makers and planners alike for formulating policies and plans for livelihood development of the country. Objectives of the study are to identify the relationship between various demographic factors of people concerned and their tendency towards and nature of project risk management. “Gemidiriya”, which has applied CDD approach in Sri Lanka, was selected as the research site. Data were collected from project village organization leaders using a pre-tested questionnaire which includes primarily the Likert-scaled questions. Descriptive statistics and a detailed correlation analysis were used to identify the relationships. Accordingly gender, age, level of education and experience seem to be significant demographic factors determining the nature of project risks. Also we found that the village organizations leaders are expected to face financial risk in particular despite the fact that such grass root level organizations consist of well-known neighbours as organization members.

Patron-Clientelism and Community Participation: Lessons From an Urban Poverty Alleviation Project in Bangladesh

This paper explores the logic of patronage and its manifestation in a community-driven development project in two poor urban settlements in Bangladesh. It is seen from the case study that long-term patron-clientelistic relationship has been more dominant than a short-term based brokerage system due to the existing typical socio-political culture in Bangladesh. The exertion of patron-clientelistic relationship depends primarily on the community specific socio-political context. This paper opines that the presence of multi-political parties’ influence in a community reduces the dominance of patron-clientistic logic in shaping social relationship. This in turn contributes to a more meaningful participation.

Critical success factors for community-driven development projects: A Sri Lankan community perspective

Despite significant investments, community-driven development (CDD) projects have yielded mixed successes in different countries and localities, underscoring the need to improve the project model. Recognising the importance of critical success factors (CSFs) in this exercise from different stakeholders’ perspectives and at a project-level ‘micro’ view, this study identifies the CSFs of the Gemidiriya CDD project of Sri Lanka from a community perspective. Questionnaires were administered to beneficiary community members and community project managers at villages to assess the importance of various project model features and linkages with overall project success. Factor analysis identified three critical success factors: enabling community environment, measurable project management outcomes by village organization and community project management engagement. Project managers should view CSFs from an impact-on-ground-orientation rather than a task-orientation. Furthermore, the beneficiaries who were also involved in the project execution may have a greater tendency to assign a high weight on the impact.

Impact of Community Driven Development Project: A Case of Fadama II Project in Oyo State, Nigeria

This paper evaluates impact of Community Driven Development programme on infrastructure under National Fadama II Project in Oyo State Nigeria. Data were collected from two hundred and sixty-four farmers using multistage sampling procedures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and infrastructure index. The result shows that average infrastructural index in the area was 0.42. Forty-four villages were classified as infrastructural developed villages (IDV) while the remaining were infrastructural under-developed villages (IUV). The study therefore calls for the involvement of both private and public organization in construction and rehabilitation of rural infrastructure, processing services centers and researches on labour saving devices for agriculture in the study area.Key words: Community Driven, Infrastructural index, Private organization, Multi-stage sampling, FadamaII project, Oyo state

Participatory Community-Driven Development and Sustainable Rural Development in Nigeria

Since the mid-1990s, community driven development has emerged as one of the fastest growing investments by donor agencies. It emerged against the conventional top-down syndrome which never had any sustainable impact on the living conditions of community members especially in rural Nigeria. Participatory development is a way of learning from and with community members to investigate, analyse, and evaluate constraints and opportunities, and make informed and timely decisions regarding development projects. The key elements of a successful community driven development projects are participation, sustainability and an enabling policy environment. Therefore, the micro-projects programme embarked upon by the European Union in the Oil producing areas of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria was evaluated based on the key elements. It was realized that the non-participation of all the subgroups in the communities, unsustainaility plan, and lack of enabling policy environment led to the abandonment of some of the projects in some communities. Therefore, the good intention of the donor agencies of reducing poverty in the rural communities, reaching out to the disadvantage groups, easing social tension and ensuring sustainable development of the rural areas have been negated.

Who Moderates the Moderators? The Effect of Non-neutral Moderators in Deliberative Decision Making

Ideal deliberative democracy seeks to employ unbiased moderators. Yet, a large literature in the field of mediation suggests the elusiveness of perfect neutrality. Our study thus addresses the following question: when moderators of deliberations express their own views – even in a limited manner – can they change the preferences of participants? Using a novel experimental design in a real deliberative decision-making process, we find that moderators can significantly influence the attitudes and behaviors of participants by expressing views in a constrained manner. The results of our study have implications for refining epistemic conceptions of deliberative democracy and for designing more precise empirical investigations of the effects of deliberative processes on attitudes and behavior. The results also warn of a simple mechanism by which interest groups might hijack the deliberative decision-making processes used in community driven development projects all over the world.

Fadama III Beneficiaries’ Adherence to Project Guidelines in Ogun State, Nigeria

Fadama III project in Nigeria like other community driven development projects is faced with a lot of challenges in spite of the laudable goals and approach. A major challenge of the projects is non-adherence to implementation guidelines among the implementers and beneficiaries. This study therefore assessed the adherence of project beneficiaries in Ogun state to the Fadama III implementation guidelines in order to make necessary recommendations to the implementers for proper management. Ijebu division was randomly selected out of the four (4) divisions in Ogun state. Two (2) out of the six (6) local government areas (LGAs) constituting the division were randomly sampled for the study. All the eight (8) registered Fadama Community Associations (FCAs) in the two LGAs were sampled. Eight focus group discussions (FGDs) and four in-depth interviews with key informants (IDIs) were used to verify secondary data obtained from the records of the FCAs. Adherence to project implementation guidelines ranged from fair to high while adherence to procurement guidelines and Fadama users’ equity fund (FUEF) requirements needed to be improved. Beneficiaries were over expectant of the benefits accruable from the project, which led to reduction in their enthusiasm towards the project because of its slow implementation. It was recommended that the implementers should keep up their efforts at sensitising beneficiaries on the implementation guidelines of the project, re-work their strategies at addressing procurement and FUEF inadequacies among the beneficiaries and fast-track the delivery of project benefits in the communities.Key words: Beneficiaries’ adherence, implementation guidelines and Fadama users’ equity fund compliance

Evidence on Community-Driven Development from an Indian Village

This article examines the functioning of a community-driven development (CDD) project that, unlike most CDDs, was set in a homogeneous community, consisted of simple tasks, had a year-long pre-intervention planning period, and maintained records of its decisions. To identify the impacts of the intervention on agricultural outcomes, and on strategies to manage risk, we use a semi-parametric difference-in-difference model that collected retrospective panel data on programme participants and non-participants over multiple seasons. Our findings suggest that the CDD project led to greater exposure to risk and no gains in productivity for the community.

Securitising Participation in the Philippines: KALAHI and Community-driven Development

Participatory approaches to development have been implemented increasingly. One form is the World Bank's community-driven development (CDD) programme. Participation has, also, become increasingly securitised since 2001. One instance of these trends was the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) project in the Philippines. This paper examines the implementation of CDD and the problems of its securitisation, using the Philippines as a case study. A composite conceptual framework is advanced that draws upon the international analyses of development. Adapting the concepts of securitisation and de-politicisation, it argues that a new hegemonic-development framework has appeared: the Securitised-Washington consensus. The analysis assesses these trends through the examples of KALAHI and Philippine politics and economics. It suggests that securitised CDD projects result in token efforts at political reform and poverty alleviation that often are contradicted by counter-trends towards development decline and militarisation. Unless these deep-rooted problems are confronted, localised participation is likely to remain ineffectual.