Community Participation and Success of Development Projects in Bosaso District Puntland, Somalia

ABSTRACT 

The study examined effects of community participation on success of development projects in Bosaso district, Puntland Somalia. This was aimed at ascertaining the level of community participation in development projects in the region, and to determine the extent of success for the development projects. The purpose was also to find out the challenges of community participation in development projects in Bosaso District, Puntland Somalia. The study was conducted in Bosaso district and the data was collected from the respondents based on the questionnaire and interview guide. The study was conducted based on the descriptive research design that sought for the descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The study was based on the sample size of 194 respondents. The study findings reveal that community participation in projects studied was generally low as indicated by the overall mean of 2.484. The second objective to ascertain the level of success for the development projects in Bosaso district present the mean of 2.267, SD=1.235 interpreted as low meaning to the success of the development projects is low. The extent to which community participation affects success of development projects as captured by the third objective was determined and revealed by the adjusted R of .011 which shows that community participation has a 1.1% effect on success of development projects. The fourth objective on the challenges of community participation in development projects in Bosaso district, Somalia. The results reveal that locally elected representative’s personal interests hinder community participation in projects, lack of policy on the direct community involvement, political intervention in project selection, and lack of dissemination of project related information, low degree of education and information on projects and lack of awareness on the projects establishments. The study concludes that the community participation in development projects was low, the community is not mobilized in the projects, decisions are taken without community notice and monitoring and evaluation is not properly established. The study concludes that community participation need enhancement. On the second research objective the study conclude that project success is not reached in several development projects in the organizations, the results conclude that success in time of costs, time and quality is not accurate in the operation of the successful projects in the business. Based on findings of the third objective, the conclusion was that educated community members participated more in development projects due to their knowledge of their importance in development projects, and participated more through resource contribution than through labour. The involvement of society in decision making was acquired to be low, entail the significant of the want for enlarged community participation in development projects. Thus, the study concludes that structural, social, financial and political challenges that affect success of projects through low community participation needs to be addressed. Based on the conclusions, the study recommends that government and relevant agencies working on development projects should clearly define the precise scope and role of community members given the evidence that many of the development projects fail because of unclear operational framework. Project implementers should work with the community to establish an active local civil society watchdog for monitoring and evaluation this will help ensure prudence and block misappropriation of funds directed to local projects. This will help engender transparency and community participation, resulting in liable leadership.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ..............................................................................................................................i

APPROVAL ....................................................................................................................................ii

DEDICATION................................................................................................................................iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..............................................................................................................iv

LIST OF TABLES ..........................................................................................................................ix

LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.........................................................................................................xi

ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... xii

CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1

1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of the study ....................................................................................................... 1

1.1.1 Historical Perspective......................................................................................................... 1

1.1.2 Theoretical Perspective ...................................................................................................... 3

1.1.3 Conceptual Perspective ...................................................................................................... 4

1.1.4 Contextual Perspective ....................................................................................................... 5

1.2 Statement of the Problem...................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Purpose of the study .............................................................................................................. 8

1.4 Research Objectives.............................................................................................................. 8

1.5 Questions of the Study .......................................................................................................... 8

1.6 Hypothesis............................................................................................................................. 8

1.7 Scope of the Study................................................................................................................. 8

1.7.1 Geographical Scope............................................................................................................ 8

1.7.2 Content Scope .................................................................................................................... 9

1.7 Time Scope............................................................................................................................ 9

1.8 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................................... 9

1.9 Operational definition of key terms .................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................ 12

LITREATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................... 12

2.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 12

2.1.1 Theoretical Review .......................................................................................................... 12

2.2 Conceptual framework ........................................................................................................ 17

2.3.0 Review of related literature .............................................................................................. 18

2.4 Level of community participation in development projects................................................ 18

2.4.1 Community Self Mobilization.......................................................................................... 18

2.4.2 Monitoring and evaluation of projects ............................................................................. 20

2.4.3 Community decision making in projects.......................................................................... 21

2.5 Success of development projects......................................................................................... 23

2.6 Effect of community participation on success of development projects............................. 26

2.7 Challenges of community participation in development projects....................................... 28

2.8 Research gaps...................................................................................................................... 30

CHAPTER THREE.................................................................................................................... 31

METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 31

3.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 31

3.1 Research Design.................................................................................................................. 31

3.2 Research Population............................................................................................................ 31

3.3 Sample size.......................................................................................................................... 32

3.4 Sampling Procedure ............................................................................................................ 33

3.5 Research instruments........................................................................................................... 33

3.5.1Questionnaire ..................................................................................................................... 33

3.5.2 Interviews......................................................................................................................... 33

3.6 Validity and Reliability of the Instrument........................................................................... 34

3.6.1 Validity of Instruments..................................................................................................... 34

3.6.2 Reliability of research instruments................................................................................... 34

3.7 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 35

3.8 Data gathering Procedures .................................................................................................. 35

3.9 Ethical Consideration .......................................................................................................... 36

3.10 Limitations of the study..................................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER FOUR....................................................................................................................... 37

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ..................................... 37

4.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 37

4.1.1 Response Rate .................................................................................................................. 37

4.1 Demographic characters of respondents ............................................................................. 38

4.2 Level of community participation in development projects in Bosaso district, Somalia.... 39

4.3 Level of success for the development projects in Bosaso district, Somalia........................ 43

4.4 Effect of community participation on success of development projects in Bosaso district, Somalia. .................. 46

4.5 Challenges of community participation in development projects in Bosaso district, Somalia............................... 48

CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................................ 51

DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................... 51

5.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 51

Discussion of findings............................................................................................................... 51

5.2 Conclusions......................................................................................................................... 54

5.3 Recommendations............................................................................................................... 54

5.4 Contributions to Knowledge ............................................................................................... 56

5.5 Suggestions for further research.......................................................................................... 56

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 57

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 60

APPENDIX I: RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE..................................................................... 60

APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW GUIDE...................................................................................... 65

APPENDIX III: RESEARCH BUDGET.................................................................................. 66

APPENDIX IV: RESEARCH TIME FRAMEWORK ............................................................. 67