Project Abstract

<p> Well harmonized community development activities are actually what bring<br>development to any community. This is so; because activities that lead to<br>community development must address the felt need of the people. Life in every<br>community reflects the level of development in that community. This is why<br>Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria [CRUADN]<br>attaches much importance to organizing skill acquisition training for youths,<br>organizing workshops on human rights, supplies of clothing materials to the less<br>privileged, building of bore holes, supplying of food items to the less privileged,<br>capacity building and conflict resolution, organizing training on good<br>governance, creating awareness on the needs of the community members,<br>training for wealth creation for community members and maintenance of<br>village roads. Based on these, the research was conducted on Assessment of the<br>Activities of the Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria<br>(CRUDAN) in CRUDAN South East zone. Five research questions and two<br>hypotheses were formulated. A forty item questionnaire was developed and<br>administered to 1288 members of CRUDAN. Means were used to answer the<br>research questions, while t-test statistics was used to test the two hypotheses<br>formulated for the study. The findings indicated that promotion of women’s<br>rights, using volunteers to extend services to the community, working closely<br>with community leaders, and providing legal supports to the less privileged<br>enhances development in communities where CRUDAN operat <br></p>

Project Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION<br>Background of the Study<br>Development, as more generally viewed, is a process by which the efforts<br>of the people are united with those of government authorities to improve the<br>economic, social and cultural conditions of communities, so as to integrate them<br>into the life of the nations and to enable their people to contribute fully to<br>national progress (United Nations, 1963). It is a process of social action by<br>which people of a community organize themselves to provide solution to<br>common problem with maximum reliance on community resources which may<br>be supplemented with services and materials from agencies outside the<br>community. It entails that community development is first the joint efforts of the<br>people who would be the direct beneficiaries before outside bodies such as the<br>government and NGOs that could be termed initiators and supporters are<br>involved and absorbed. (Abegunde, 2009; Chukwuezi 2010). Suffice it to note<br>that, the ultimate goal of community development is basically to improve the<br>quality of lives or the well-being of people residing in our varying communities.<br>In other words, community development involves the articulation of the real and<br>felt-need of the people and the participation of the people in the development<br>process<br>Though, Nigerian governments, at various points in time, have evolved a<br>number of programmes to help stir development at the grassroots.<br>2<br>Unfortunately, most of the programmes could not address the level of underdevelopment<br>in our communities. These programmes include: the National<br>Directorate of Employment (NDE), Community banks, Directorate of Foods,<br>Roads and Rural Infrastructure, Better Life for Rural Women, National Poverty<br>Alleviation Programme (NAPEP), etc. In their analysis, Olaleye and Adekola<br>(2006) pointed out that the failure or very low success recorded by most of these<br>programmes and the poor macro-economic conditions arising from inefficient<br>policies and programmes implementations had consciously been contributing<br>factors to the poor economic state and poor living conditions of Nigerians<br>especially those at the grassroots level. More so, those development<br>programmes, as noted above, are criticized for the high degree of government<br>involvement – lacking essential community and grassroots participation mostly<br>emphasized and advocated by NGOs (Diaspora Development Intervention<br>2010).<br>Moreover, the past two decades have witnessed an exponential growth in<br>the number of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) around the world. This<br>scenario, in most cases, is attributed to the inability of government to satisfy the<br>socioeconomic quests of citizens especially in the developing countries such as<br>Nigeria. Thus, People are forming associations, foundations and similar<br>institutions to deliver human services, promote grassroots development, and<br>pursue a thousand other objectives formerly unattended or left by the state. In<br>some cases, it is argued that NGOs may be better placed to articulate the needs<br>3<br>of the rural communities provide services and initiate participatory development<br>programmes even far better than the public sector.<br>World Bank (2002) defined NGOs as private organizations that pursue<br>activities to relieve suffering, promote the interest of poor, protect the<br>environment, provide basic social services or undertake community<br>development. As stated in Togbolo (2005), an NGO is viewed as an<br>organization or group of people working independent of any external control<br>with specific objectives and aims to fulfill tasks that are oriented to bring about<br>desirable change in a given community or area. It is an organization not<br>affiliated to political parties, generally engaged in working for aid, development<br>and welfare of the community. They mobilize public support and voluntary<br>contributions for aid; often have strong links with community groups in<br>developing countries, and they often work in areas where government-togovernment<br>aid is not readily possible<br>Various communities in Nigeria have indeed witnessed the intervention<br>programmes of NGOs in most of their development efforts. Prominent among<br>these NGOs is the activities of Christian Rural and Urban Development<br>Association of Nigeria (CRUDAN). CRUDAN is one of the faith-based NGOs<br>in Nigeria created by mobilizing groups and communities for collective action.<br>The organization is tirelessly making efforts to achieve lasting results in<br>improving the lives of people thereby contributing their quota in the community<br>development process. Moreover, CRUDAN is a Christian NGO that draws its<br>4<br>members from churches, Christian organizations, theological institutions,<br>Community Based Organisations (CBO) and individuals who subscribe to its<br>beliefs and values and are engaged or have interest in development work in<br>Nigeria. The organization was formed in 1990, following the merger of two<br>Christian development organizations operating independently in the country,<br>namely, Christian Rural Fellowship of Nigeria (CRFN), founded in 1953 which<br>operated in the Southern part of Nigeria, and Christian Rural Advisory Council<br>(CRAC), founded in 1965 and operated in the Northern part of Nigeria.<br>CRUDAN began operation in 1991 and was officially registered with the<br>Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of the federal Government of Nigeria on<br>the 7th of December 1992 (CRUDAN operation manual 2002);<br>CRUDAN has five operational zones in Nigeria, namely Central, North-<br>East, North West, South East and South West zones. CRUDAN is a<br>membership organization and for this reason, it has the general Assembly as its<br>highest decision-making body which meets twice a year. There is also a board<br>of 10 persons with representation from each of the five CRUDAN zones and<br>they meet quarterly. In each zone, there is a zonal committee responsible for<br>the affairs in the zones and it also meets quarterly.<br>More so, a number of observers have pointed out, generally, that NGOs’<br>orientations and development strategies have evolved over the years – a gradual<br>shift from a welfare orientation to a more development approach (Abegunde,<br>2009). Many international NGOs particularly, the faith-based organizations<br>5<br>NGOs like CRUDAN, began as charitable relief organizations – delivering<br>welfare services to the poor and emergency situations that demand immediate<br>and effective response. But as a development strategy, relief and welfare<br>approaches offer just a temporary alleviation of the symptoms. Today, many<br>NGOs have shifted emphasis, traditionally, from providing solely humanitarian<br>relief and welfare to a new focus on enabling development programmes,<br>generally referred to as empowerment, especially, at the grassroots. The shift is<br>inevitable. According to Togbolo (2005), various factors have been cited as<br>contributors to this shift. One is recognition of the inadequacy of trying to deal<br>with symptoms while the underlying problems remain untouched. It reflects the<br>constant challenge to NGOs to re-examine their strategies in a rapidly changing<br>environment. Thus, CRUDAN, like many other NGOs, have come to adopt<br>development strategies that meet the genuine needs of rural or marginalized<br>groups. Not only that, they focus on building the capacity of local people or<br>grassroots organizations thereby promoting community participation, peoplecentred<br>and people owned/driven development. Osita (2007) opined that the<br>NGOs serve as a catalyst and agent of change in enhancing sustainable<br>development in the communities where they operate. Hence, NGOs are<br>recognized as important players in the field of community development.<br>In another dimension, Abegunde (2009) observed that community<br>development cannot be real until there is community participation and that the<br>degree of involvement of the people, to a greater extent, determines the level of<br>6<br>development in any given area. Participation therefore embraces the initiators,<br>supporters and the beneficiaries of any given development programme. In the<br>same vein, CRUDAN in its community development programme emphasizes<br>the participation of community members in the planning and execution of the<br>community development projects. The organization seeks to promote<br>participation of people through harnessing local initiative and resources thereby<br>mobilizing communities for collective action and development (CRUDAN<br>brochure 2007).<br>Cosby [2002] observed that the efforts of faith based organization in<br>setting up of infrastructures and conducting human development programmes<br>are challenging and should be emulated, and also, the efforts of the religious<br>bodies in combating evil and poverty are highly appreciated by the<br>communities. In line with the above, as stated in its documentary evidence,<br>CRUDAN has over the years embarked on so many community development<br>activities to help raise the living standard of people in the various communities<br>of its operation. Such activities include wealth creation/skill acquisition for<br>women and youths, leadership training for groups and community leaders,<br>seminars/workshops on good governance and human rights, and provision as<br>well as maintenance of community infrastructure. For instance, in the South<br>East Zone, the organization has successfully facilitated and set up many life<br>changing projects like the establishment of the Igbomina Anglican Diocesan<br>Development Programmes. Through this programme, the diocese has<br>7<br>effectively engaged four (4) local churches in kick-starting several income<br>generating activities such as a snail farm, poultry and a pineapple farm. Not<br>only that, CRUDAN has facilitated the provision of some basic social amenities<br>such as drinking water , health and education facilities to many communities in<br>Nigeria.(CRUDAN 2004)<br>In spite of all the efforts of CRUDAN and other NGOs in improving the<br>well-being of communities in Nigeria, as has often reported by the media, it<br>seems that not much has been done given the slow rate of development in the<br>rural areas (CRUDAN 2004). Again, UNDP (2002) pointed out that Nigeria<br>rural communities have no access to clean water, and sanitations; no health<br>facilities and that they lack access to credit or economic activities Though,<br>CRUDAN, on its own, is making efforts to improve the lots of many<br>communities yet, some community members are still sceptical about the<br>underlying principles behind the roles of the organizations.<br>When people participate in community development, they gain much.<br>Kelbert [1980] said that members are directly related to socio-economic status,<br>people with lower incomes, less education, less occupation status, and lower<br>levels of living are less likely to participate in voluntary associations than<br>persons of higher bracket. The differences tend to make people uncomfortable.<br>Bridges (2007) enumerated these mutual benefits under four (4) headings:<br>v The citizens can bring about desired changes by expressing one’s<br>desire, either individually or through a community or group.<br>8<br>v The citizens learn to understand and appreciate the individuals’<br>needs and interests of all community groups.<br>v The individuals learn how to resolve conflicting interests for the<br>general welfare of the group.<br>In development networking, CRUDAN Network with churches for the<br>achievement of both social and spiritual development in the community.<br>Winker (2003) says that Linking and Networking allows for a balancing of both<br>local diversity and global unity as key principles of achieving organizational<br>goals. He goes on to say that networking can maintain local independence<br>while fostering an ever growing sense of global interdependence. This brings<br>the mutual understanding. Perteault (2006) says, ideally, all organizations<br>should work together as a team because the output from one organization may<br>be the input to another. And every organization may directly or indirectly<br>impact short-term and long-term community satisfaction.<br>Building mutually beneficial relationships with community requires that<br>everyone in an organization works together to achieve community satisfaction<br>before and after each community development programme. If there is any<br>complaint from the community, the development agent working in that<br>community should see it as the development organization’s problem. The longterm<br>relationship with the community and life time value of the development<br>organization’s future programme is threatened if the organization or anyone else<br>9<br>who might be involved do not work together quickly to make things right for<br>the community.<br>On this also, Brown (2006) emphasized that you do not have to choose<br>between involvement on a community or global scale, you can have both.<br>Networks are strategy to which small groups can transform an entire society.<br>This is in view of carrying out community transformation. Wikinson, D.A.<br>(2004) also points out that organization transformation that leads to global<br>transformation has been identified as a key principle for functional organization.<br>If individuals and or organizations are to be transformed to the point of having a<br>right attitude of being the best in the community, he must begin with personal<br>transformation of the existing organizations or structures in the particular<br>community. This is because a transformed organization will be open to using a<br>new paradigm of operation called trans-organisational education. When<br>organizations and individuals in the community are transformed, their services<br>to the community are more focused.<br>Ferguson (2002) explains that in transpersonal and trans-organisational<br>education, the community is encouraged to be awake and autonomous to<br>question, to explore all the corners, and recesses of conscious experience, to<br>seek meaning, to test outer limit, to check out frontiers and depths of the<br>community. With the background in mind, the researcher feels that community<br>development activities without involvement of community members themselves<br>from planning to implementation may leave some holes. To bring development<br>10<br>closer to people, CRUDAN came up with people centred approach which she<br>called wholistic development approach. Even with the approach, there are still<br>some gaps to address.<br>Statement of the Problem<br>Faith based organizations have taken part in carrying out community<br>development in recent years. One of such faith based organization is Christian<br>Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria (CRUDAN) which as a<br>result of some of her activities, seeks to improve the lots of rural and urban<br>dwellers through the involvement of the beneficiaries. However, there seems to<br>be some lapses in the implementation of CRUDAN activities within the South<br>East zone. The problem of this study is therefore to assess the Community<br>development activities in CRUDAN South East zone to discovering why the<br>lapses in her effectiveness and if there are areas to be improved upon, corrected<br>or changed.<br>Purpose of the Study<br>The general purpose of this study is to assess the community<br>development activities of CRUDAN in South East zone of Nigeria. Specifically,<br>the objectives of the study are to:<br>1. determine the characteristics of CRUDAN members involved in<br>community development in CRUDAN South East Zone.<br>11<br>2. identify the perception of CRUDAN members about community<br>development.<br>3. identify community development activities as carried out by<br>CRUDAN.<br>4. find out the strategies employed by CRUDAN in community<br>development.<br>5. find out the challenges facing CRUDAN in its community<br>development activities<br>Significance of the Study<br>This work will be useful to the CRUDAN members and individuals who<br>are interested in community development programmes. The findings will reveal<br>presuppositions and strategies adopted by CRUDAN which have helped or<br>hindered development in the region. This information is crucial to every<br>stakeholder in the zone.<br>Also, it is hoped that this work would provide a guide to community<br>development workers and other non-government organizations (NGOs) in<br>planning and implementing community development projects. As for CRUDAN<br>members, this work will motivate and encourage their efforts as well suggest<br>methods that will be more effective in achieving the best result in their<br>community development efforts.<br>12<br>Other Faith Based Organizations [FBO’s] will benefit from the study<br>because it will enable them to adapt the findings of this research to improve<br>their activities<br>Generally, the research work shall add to the existing body of knowledge<br>and scholarship on Non- governmental organization and their roles in<br>community development.<br>Research Questions<br>The following research questions and hypotheses are formulated to<br>facilitate investigation into this study:<br>1. What are the characteristics of the CRUDAN members in the South<br>East Zone?<br>2. What are the perceptions of CRUDAN members to community<br>development activities in the South East zone?<br>3. What are the community developments activities carried out by<br>CRUDAN in South East Zone?<br>4. What are the community development strategies employed by<br>CRUDAN in the South East Zone?<br>5. What are the challenges facing CRUDAN in the community<br>development process in the South East Zone?<br>Hypotheses<br>The following two null hypotheses are tested at 0.05 level of significance:<br>13<br>Ho1: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of CRUDAN staff<br>and community members on the community development activities of<br>CRUDAN in the South East zone.<br>Ho2: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of CRUDAN staff<br>and community members on the community development strategies<br>employed by CRUDAN in the South East Zone<br>Scope of the Study<br>The scope of this study is restricted to the assessment of the Community<br>development activities and strategies of CRUDAN including the challenges<br>facing CRUDAN in the community development process. It is further restricted<br>to the perception of CRUDAN officials who carry out Community<br>Development activities in CRUDAN South East zone and the community<br>member who benefits from the development activities. <br></p>