The Impact Of Community Participation In Non-Governmental Organisations’ Projects Management: A Case Study Of Compassion International Lyantonde District

ABSTRACT

The major purpose of the study was to analyse the impact of community participation in

project management and to suggest how best communities can participate in NGO

projects management. The objectives of the study were: To find out the level of

community participation; investigate the factors that influence their participation in

project management; analyse how the benefits accrue to different beneficiaries and also

to analyse how these factors can be mitigated to ensure effective community participation

in projects management. The study employed the case study research design where

careful and complete observation of a single unit or NGO was done in order to understand

the phenomenon deeper .The study was about community participation and focused on

Compassion International Lyantonde District from 2000-2005 where the sample size

comprised respondents drawn from Luwero. The researcher employed both the

qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the data. Data were analysed using the

thematic approach and descriptive statistics. The study established that the people were

knowledgeable about community participation and NGO projects management however,

there were few activities in which they participated and most of the local community

members do not participate in Compassion International Lyantonde District.

On the level of community participation in Compassion International Lyantonde District

management, it was established that the people are not given chance to adequately

participate in Compassion International Lyantonde District. The evidence suggests that

people’s participation is passive, that training and capacity building can influence

participation, and the benefits of participation were proved to be direct and indirect.

Therefore, the whole study indicates that there are few people who participate in Compassion International Lyantonde District.