The Role of Community Participation in Decision Making: Case Study of Kandara Community Development Centres Programme
Abstract
Communi ty Developmen-t Programmes devoid of sufficient
community participation cannot be as successful as would
be expected. This is the contention of this thesis and,
hence, the advocacy for community participation in
decision-making in such cownunity programmes. According
to this study the success of a community programme
is Qotlargely determined by whether or not the community
, "-
,is the one that initiated the programme in question.
Rather, the crucial factor is whether the local community
who are the beneficiaries were involved in the subsequent
planning and implementation stages.
Kandara Community Development Centre (KCDC) P'roqrarnme,
though not initiated directly by the local c0TIU11unity,had
the option of incorporating the community in the subsequent
design, planning and implem~ntation stages. However, the
study has found out that this involvement was limited
and insufficient, and th~se are factors that have
contributed significantly to the poor performance of the
Programme.
other minor, though important factors contributing to
poor performance of the P'roqramme are management and
financial problems, limited ~nvolvement of the Government
of Kenya and political influence.
(vi)
For KCDC to be revived and to fully incorporate the
issue of community participation rn decision-making a
major structural overhaul is recommended. This option,
hard as it may appear, will eventually steer the programme
towards the realization of the community's felt needs,
with sufficient involvement ot the beneficiaries
in'decision-making.
Publisher
University of Nairobi