An investigation of community participation trends in the rural development process in Nquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal
Loading...
Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Rural development strategies can realise their full potential only through active involvement and organisation of rural people at grassroots level (FAO, 1981:12). The rural poor have not participated in sharing the benefits from the enormous development efforts of the three past decades, neither in proportion to their needs.
After 1994, the South African democratic government adopted a people-centred developmental approach in order to heal the legacy of the past regime. The aim of community-centred approach is to enhance the skills and capacity of communities by promoting their participation in the own development (Theron, 2005:120). Various authors agreed that participation of people in the system which governs their lives is a basic human right and essential for relocation of political power in favour of disadvantaged groups and for social and economic development. However, in Nquthu citizen participation has developed into an ideology rather than a practical mechanism to promote participation by citizens and to improve local governance.
Community participation is a concept that is often mentioned in community development perspective. Theron (2005:120) views community participation as a process to give communities an opportunity to determine their own destination in terms of their needs and resources. This means that provision at grassroots level with abilities, which could enable them to negotiate development delivery systems and be able to take informed decisions, in terms of their development needs and priorities (Theron, 2005:119). Leisner (1974) in Lombard (1992:256) contends that the purpose of community participation is to create opportunities for the community to take part in (1) planning and policy making, (2) allocation and distribution of resources and (3) the management of services. However, the aim of the study was to assess community participation trends in rural development process in Nquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
An evaluative research method was followed in which data was gathered through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The study was comprised of seventy respondents. It is structured into five chapters. Chapter one deals with the introduction, the statement of the problem, motivation for choice of study, aims and objectives of the study, definition of important concept, the basic assumptions, research method, significant of the study and chapter organisation. Chapter two discusses the theory and philosophy of community participation. It conceptualises the concept related to community participation in development; this includes community development, integrated rural development and rural development. It also highlights the policy framework on community participation in terms of international, national policy documents and also highlights the overview of integrated developmental plan. Chapter three describes the ethnographic sketch of the Nquthu community, location of the study and activities of the place. Chapter four presents the data results, interpretation and analysis. Chapter five presents the results and discussions of results. Chapter six reflects the conclusion and the way forward.
Description
Submitted in (partial) fulfilment of the requirement of the Master’s Degree
Community Work in the field of Social Work in the Faculty of Arts Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2010.
Keywords
Rural development strategies