Exploring participatory approach to community development projects in Africa: Toward an empowerment-participatory approach for sustainable development

Abstract

Summary Applying the participatory approach alone to development projects has yet to lead to the active participation of the marginalized in African development projects. A qualitative phenomenological research design was utilized. The study purposively included six communities across Delta State, Nigeria, based on the presence of development projects. Eighteen participants with high incomes and above, and 18 participants with low incomes and below were included in the study using the snowball sampling technique. The total sample size for the study was 36. Unstructured interviews were used to collect data, which were thematically analyzed. Findings The findings, which are of significant importance, revealed that the studied communities benefited from town halls, open-stall markets, borehole water, roads, primary health care centers, primary schools, secondary schools, irrigations, electricity, and hospitals. The participants with low incomes and below indicated a low level of participation in the development projects due to poverty, lack of formal education, inadequate information, government interference, male domination, lack of interest, and discriminatory cultural practices. The participants with high incomes and above indicated a high level of participation believing that they were better positioned to participate in development-related matters in the communities. Applications The findings suggest a promising potential for change. There is a clear need for social work educators to adopt the empowerment-participatory approach into Nigerian social work curricula, and social work practitioners should apply it for active community participation, and sustainability in Nigerian and African development projects.