Project Abstract

<p> </p><p>The study was aimed at assessing the extent of the utilization of community mobilization<br>strategies in the implementation of community development projects in South-East States,<br>Nigeria. To guide the study, five research questions were formulated with the intention of<br>ascertaining the extent of utilization of capacity building for stakeholders, formation of<br>community coalitions, direct engagement of community members and creation of partnership<br>with organizations as community mobilization strategies in the implementation of community<br>development projects in South-East States, and the challenges affecting the effective<br>utilization of community mobilization strategies in the implementation of community<br>development projects in South-East States, Nigeria. Also, four null hypotheses were tested at<br>.05 level of significance and used to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was<br>used. The population of the study was 1,747 community development officers and local<br>government executive members of town unions in South-East States from where a sample of<br>1, 073 was drawn using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for the<br>study was a 48-item self-designed questionnaire called Utilization of Community<br>Mobilization Strategies Questionnaire (UCOMSQ). The instrument was face validated by<br>three experts and its reliability was ensured using Cronbach alpha estimate. Reliability coefficient<br>of .92 was obtained. Weighted mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing<br>the collected data. Copies of the instrument were administered to the respondents through<br>direct delivery technique. Findings of the study revealed that capacity building for<br>stakeholders, formation of community coalitions and direct engagement of community<br>members were utilized to a moderate extent as community mobilization strategies in the<br>implementation community development projects, while the creation of partnership with<br>organizations was utilized to a little extent. Two out of the four null hypotheses were rejected<br>showing that there were significant differences in the mean ratings of community<br>development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to which capacity<br>building for stakeholders and formation of community coalitions were utilized in the<br>implementation of community development projects in South-East States. Based on the<br>findings of the study, recommendations were proffered which included that state<br>governments should effectively strengthen communities’ ownership of development projects<br>in the various communities, both urban and rural, and that state governments should<br>encourage communities to form partnerships with federal, state and local governments, and<br>even international agencies.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <br><p></p>

Project Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION<br>Background to the Study<br>Community development covers all forms of developmental activities in a community.<br>It is aimed at the improvement of persons either as individuals, groups or society at large and their<br>living situation. It is also aimed at securing the active participation and co-operation of the<br>people in every community programme that is designed to raise their standard of living and<br>promote their development in every form. Omoruyi (2001) noted that community development<br>was first used in 1948 at the Cambridge Conference on African Administration that was organized<br>by the British Colonial Office. Then, community development was taken to mean the same thing<br>as mass education. Community development was therefore regarded as a movement designed to<br>promote better living for the whole community with the active participation and if possible on the<br>initiative of the community (Obetta, 2014).<br>Universally, community development is accepted to mean the process by<br>which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of governmental<br>authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities to<br>integrate these communities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully<br>to national progress (Hyman in Obetta, 2004). Community development is therefore a process<br>which seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the<br>skills needed to affect change in their own communities. These skills are often concentrated<br>around building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a<br>common agenda.<br>Community development, according to Anyanwu (1999), marks the stage in the life of<br>a community at which the people plan and act together for the satisfaction of their felt-needs<br>through programme formulation and implementation. The programmes of community<br>1<br>2<br>development usually grow out of deliberate efforts to bring about social change in<br>communities. Adequacies of community facilities and services, opportunities for<br>employment, quality of the community environment are elements in the life-wire of any<br>community. Lee (2003) stated that community development is rooted in a broad understanding<br>of citizenship that sees people as having a right to influence and participate in the decisions that<br>affect them and to have their experiences and views listened to and acted on. It is potentially a<br>means or process whereby people can achieve such a right. This, therefore, can result to<br>participation in decision-making and collective action, leading to an agenda of social inclusion<br>and amelioration of poverty. In essence, the delivery of community development and social<br>welfare services is a human right well enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Charter (1995).<br>Over three decades, the approach to delivering community development and social welfare<br>services has been changing from time to time. Presently, a bottom-top service delivery<br>approach is in vogue. The approach implies that the beneficiaries of a service are helped to<br>understand their problems and take part in suggesting and providing possible interventions<br>towards solving that particular problem. In other words, bottom-top service delivery approach<br>is a demand-driven approach showing that communities are helped to identify a problem<br>affecting them and hence, the need to solve it (Twebaze, 2003).<br>The bottom-top approach contrasts sharply the top-bottom approach where the<br>bureaucrats thought over problems for the communities and suggest interventions on their<br>behalf. The top-bottom approach presupposes that communities have no capacity to<br>understand their problems nor do they have any capacity to suggest any meaningful<br>intervention to solve their problems (Obetta &amp; Okide, 2011). This type of approach became<br>so popular during the colonial and post-colonial era up to the 1980s (Cinara, 2004). The topbottom<br>approach had short-comings as their services did not march the communities’ needs.<br>Also, the communities had to look at the interventions as foreign and impositions on them.<br>3<br>The institutions and facilities were looked at as “government things” and not those of the<br>communities. It means that the government either keeps servicing them or they collapse soon<br>after installation (United Nations’ International Children’s Education Fund, UNICEF, 2000).<br>Moreover, the institutions and facilities provided broke down when government funding and<br>responsibility dwindled. Hence, the top-bottom approach failed to yield the expected results.<br>This scenario, according to Obetta (2014), led to the adoption of bottom-top approach since<br>last two decades. UNICEF further asserted that in Nigeria, the bottom-top approach has been<br>adopted since the early 1990s as community development projects cannot be undertaken<br>successfully without the bottom-top approach. The bottom-top approach entails mobilizing<br>the communities, getting them involved, educating them to focus and prioritize their pressing<br>community development needs. Once they identify their needs, they are further helped to<br>identify interventions to solve such needs. The bottom-top approach is also referred to as a<br>demand-driven approach because it translates into equity possession of properties resulting<br>from a consultative approach process. The community therefore cares for the institutions and<br>facilities, operate them and maintain them effectively and efficiently as they are aware that<br>the institutions and facilities belong to them.<br>In order to strengthen the effective and efficient care for the institutions and facilities<br>(including their operation and maintenance), community mobilization was introduced. The<br>idea of community mobilization was initiated by UNICEF and has since been adopted by<br>other development partners including World Bank, United Nations’ Development Programme<br>(UNDP), African Development Bank (ADB), Department for International Development<br>(DFID) and United Nations’ (UN) Habitat in collaboration with line ministries such as<br>Agriculture and Rural Development, Environment, Health and Education among others<br>(Parker, 1996). Initially, development partners could take on projects individually but<br>presently, a common basket has been established where community developmental funds are<br>4<br>pooled and budgeted among projects including component allocations for community<br>mobilization.<br>Community mobilization is an important means for introducing the demanddriven/<br>bottom-top approach. It is an initial stimulus for communities to get involved and<br>participate in developmental projects in the community. Although community mobilization<br>shares many characteristics with related concepts such as empowerment and participation, its<br>major emphasis is on collective advocacy and organization as credible community members<br>can enthusiastically support community development programmes when well informed. As<br>an intervention tool in community development programmes, community mobilization seeks<br>to create social change by building awareness and empowering community members to take<br>charge of their own development through engaging in a collective and interactive process<br>(Parker, 1996). Community mobilization, according to Save the Children Federation (2012),<br>is a process through which action is stimulated by a community itself, or by others. Such<br>action is planned, carried out, and evaluated by a community’s individuals, groups, and<br>organizations on a participatory and sustained basis to improve their living standard.<br>Community mobilization produces a growing autonomy and conscience as it is a<br>continual and communicational, educational and organizational process. Above all,<br>community mobilization enables community members to participate in all possible ways<br>through the contribution of ideas, materials and finances. Mobilization is a very powerful<br>empowerment tool for the communities to own interventions that are intended to solve their<br>problems. Community mobilization helps in the formation of management committees and<br>also encourages the management committees to be gender-balanced. In this way, the<br>communities become part and parcel of their own problem-solving apparatus.<br>Community mobilization is a continuous process in the society that is aimed at<br>bringing the society together for the purpose of generating ideas in relation to the problems<br>5<br>they face or meeting their needs with the help of a facilitator (Memon 2004, and Michau &amp;<br>Naker, 2003). Mobilization aims at creating awareness and empowering the community to<br>identify their problems, prioritize them, suggest interventions to solve these problems and<br>find means of sustaining such interventions. Furthermore, mobilization can also be referred to<br>as a process that is aimed at enticing adequate community participation of stakeholders in the<br>community project management activity process including planning and design,<br>implementation, monitoring and evaluation (Gou, 2001). The ultimate benefits of community<br>mobilization include the improvement in the quality of life for the rural communities and<br>reduction in operation and maintenance costs which can be used to extend community<br>development and social welfare services to un-served populations (Howard-Grabman, 2000).<br>Community mobilization is needed in communities because decentralization and<br>democratization require increased community level decision-making. Save the Children<br>Federation (2012) noted that community mobilization is needed in communities because<br>communities have different needs and problems, different cultures, beliefs and practices.<br>Therefore, one programme may not fit in or be acceptable in all the communities. Also,<br>community mobilization builds mechanisms and systems to sustain health improvements.<br>Social structures and norms may need to be changed if true access to information and<br>services is to be achieved by those who mostly need them. Therefore, community<br>mobilization can help to facilitate these changes. Community mobilization can increase<br>community members’ awareness of their right to decent treatment and can strengthen<br>members’ ability to claim these, and can also help to bring additional resources to the<br>community. Through community mobilization, communities can apply political pressure to<br>improve services. Empowering community mobilization approaches can strengthen<br>community members’ skills and capacity to address the underlying causes of community<br>problems and reduce barriers to access of information and services.<br>6<br>From the on-going discussions, it infers that through community mobilization,<br>communities can play a critical role in the process of achieving an effective continuum of<br>community development activities. Community mobilization can raise awareness of<br>community development issues and motivate people to participate in activities that have been<br>prioritized and planned from within the community. Otchere and Ransom (2006) stated that<br>community mobilization is an empowering strategy that includes carrying out careful and<br>formative research in order to design a locally-appropriate and specific community<br>mobilization strategy. It also involves selecting and training individuals who will facilitate<br>the community mobilization process within communities.<br>Other activities include raising community awareness about the local community<br>development projects’ situation; working with community leaders and others to invite and<br>organize participation of those most affected by and interested in community development<br>projects, exploring with community members the local practices, beliefs and attitudes that<br>affect community development projects, and supporting communities to set local priorities<br>for action. Helping community members to develop and implement their own community<br>action plans and working with communities to build their capacity to independently monitor<br>and evaluate their progress towards achieving improved standard of living are also the<br>activities of community mobilization.<br>Based on the foregoing, Tedrow, Morin, Sweat, Zelaya, Kennedy, Khumalo-<br>Sakutukwa and Celentano (2011) stated that community mobilization strategies include<br>capacity building for the stakeholders, formation of community coalitions, direct engagement<br>of community members, and creation of partnerships with organizations. The capacity<br>building for the stakeholders is an important community mobilization strategy. It involves<br>identifying existing community resources and assessing the gaps that exist to implement the<br>community mobilisation. The gaps identified are supplemented by capacity building of the<br>7<br>community groups and other relevant stakeholders in the community involved in community<br>mobilization.<br>The aim of capacity building is to establish a group that can influence community<br>mobilization activities. It usually consists of partners that have a stake in the issue as well as<br>influential groups and members of the community such as formal and informal leaders and<br>religious and traditional leaders. Tedrow, et. al., (2011) referred to the stakeholders as<br>gatekeepers. These are people that are highly regarded in the communities—the chiefs, the<br>sub-chiefs, and any other persons in the position of leadership. These categories of people are<br>the ones that community development officers have to talk to first in order to open the gates<br>for community development officers to go down to the grassroots level and then be able to<br>interact with the people. The stakeholders accompany community development officers to the<br>people, introduce them to the people and then help them to sell their ideas to the people.<br>Formation of community coalitions is another community mobilisation strategy.<br>Community mobilization for a coalition requires recruiting a critical mass of active<br>participants, and engaging key community constituencies or sectors. Coalitions seek to<br>consolidate local power and knowledge to address substance abuse and other related<br>problems in the community. Lasker and Weiss (2003) emphasized that coalitions seek to<br>bring people together across social, economic, and political ties to address common<br>community interest. An essential element of an effective coalition is the creation of structures<br>and operations that maximize community inputs and ensure goal attainment. An effective<br>coalition requires a strong and stable organizational structure that clarifies roles and<br>procedures, and adequately addresses task and maintenance function (Florin, Mitchell,<br>Stevenson, &amp; Klein, 2000).<br>An effective coalition creates a formalized set of structures and practices, such as<br>written roles and procedures (e.g., by-laws). Coalition develops and maintains quality<br>8<br>organizational management strategies such as effective communication, conflict resolution,<br>perception of fairness, and shared decision-making. Centre for Prevention Research and<br>Development (2006) asserted that high levels of coalition organizational effectiveness result<br>in a positive work climate, higher member satisfaction and communication among committee<br>members. They also establish linkages with community organizations, and reduce conflict.<br>Coalitions require a common vision, high quality communication, strong relationships<br>both internally and externally, targeted outcomes, and human and financial resources to be<br>effective (Foster-Fishman, Berkowitz, Lounsbury, Jacobson, &amp; Allen, 2001). The coalition<br>builds capacity for action by increasing members’ knowledge and skills (Florin, et. al., 2000),<br>and empowering individuals by getting them involved in the issues that affect their lives<br>(Lasker &amp; Weiss, 2003).<br>Such coalitions include: Community Working Groups (CWGs) and Community-<br>Based Outreach Volunteers (CBOVs) (Campbell &amp; Cornish, 2010). CBOVs are extremely<br>valuable assets to the community mobilization process. CBOVs help community<br>development officers gain trust and acceptance in communities, and disseminate information<br>regarding community project execution. CWGs provide another avenue for community<br>participation in the mobilization. The CWGs consist of local leaders, representatives from<br>community organizations, churches, schools, health clinics, and traditional rulers. CWGs<br>served as a link between communities and community development programme staff.<br>A third community mobilisation strategy is direct engagement of community<br>members through door-to-door canvassing (community/home visits), community meetings,<br>workshops, seminars, radio, talk, shows, staging drama, promotion weeks, distribution of<br>flyers and informal group discussions. Campbell and Cornish (2010) affirmed that in this<br>strategy, community mobilisation teams and community-based outreach volunteers engage<br>community members in conversations about community development projects. It is an<br>9<br>excellent way of understanding the community, thereby allowing CBOVs to tailor their<br>messages to address local opinions. Community mobilization teams and CBOVs develop<br>outreach strategies and events to increase community participation in project-related<br>activities. The community mobilisation teams arrange sporting events, community dramas,<br>dancing competitions, and even movie showings in some sites. Sometimes, local celebrities<br>and community leaders would attend these events, dramatically increase participation. These<br>events are ways of raising community awareness about projects in the community.<br>Creation of partnerships with organizations is another mobilization strategy. In a<br>community, there are various partners that work independently to achieve similar goals.<br>Therefore, it is important to identify relevant partners through a simple mapping exercise.<br>With respect to community development programmes, religious institutions, communitybased<br>organisations (CBOs), governmental agencies and international agencies, among others<br>are relevant also as partners. Community mobilization staff establishes partnerships with<br>community organizations. By forming partners, project teams utilize pre-existing forums to<br>disseminate their information. For example, mobilization teams attend immunization<br>campaigns in partnership with government health clinics, facilitate sessions during<br>community meetings called by other organizations, gave presentations in churches, and used<br>schools as forum to mobilize youth (Campbell &amp; Cornish, 2010). Mobilization teams also<br>develop partnerships to address needs and issues raised by communities. Also, partnerships<br>help to enhance the sustainability of the community mobilization.<br>In South East of Nigeria, there are five states namely; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu<br>and Imo States. These states have numerous autonomous communities located both in urban<br>and rural areas. Community development is needed in both areas. Hence, Mabogunje (1999)<br>emphasized that development is essentially a human issue as it is concerned with the capacity<br>of individuals to realize their inherent potentials and effectively cope with the change in<br>10<br>circumstances of their lives. It also involves the total mobilization of a society towards a<br>self-centred and self-reliant position with regard to not only the processes of decision-making<br>but also, in production and consumption patterns. Community mobilization is indispensible to<br>the effective execution of development projects and as such, community development<br>officers are at the fore-front in the community mobilization process. This is because they are<br>experts in the area. Therefore, there is the need for the community development officers to<br>mobilize community members for effective involvement in the social, economic and political<br>advancement of their communities. It is therefore important that in mobilizing communities<br>for development process, none of these two facets of communities (urban and rural) in the<br>South-East States of Nigeria should be neglected.<br>After the Nigeria/Biafra civil war of 1967 – 1970, there was improvement in the<br>formation of indigenous community development organizations in both rural and urban<br>communities in the present South-East States. Most of these communities, in a bid to grow,<br>adopted community mobilization strategy. Prominent among the community development<br>organizations is the town union. It is located in the community, as an association that belongs<br>to the community, established by the community and for the community (Warner, et. al.,<br>2006). The community development officers help the town unions by employing community<br>mobilization strategies in addressing some community development issues. Such issues<br>include the implementation of primary health care, rural water supply and sanitation,<br>leadership development, rural credits, eradication of illiteracy, agricultural projects, rural<br>electrification projects, rural feeder-road and maintenance projects, and income-generation<br>projects. The community mobilization strategies employed are building capacity for the<br>stakeholders, formation of community coalition, direct engagement of community members<br>and creation of partnership with organizations.<br>In Enugu State, there are instances where communities have been mobilized by<br>11<br>community development officers. The employment of the mobilization strategies such as<br>capacity building, coalition formation, direct engagement of community members, and<br>partnership creation with organizations have resulted in the completion of health centres at<br>Nguru-Nsukka, Ozzi-Edem and Ezebunagu, respectively. Others are provision of 86 desks for<br>primary school pupils at Nguru-Nsukka; sinking of bore-hole at Nru-Nsukka, construction of<br>rural feeder road at Anuka, building of secondary school science laboratory block and<br>examination hall at Edem-Ani and Breme (Eha-Ndiagu), respectively. Presently, building of<br>health centre is in progress in Anuka Community, all in Nsukka Local Government Area of<br>Enugu State. In a related development, Obetta (2009) cited instances with the sinking of borehole<br>projects at Uda, Enugu-Ezike in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area and Ohom-<br>Orba Community in Udenu Local Government Area.<br>In Anambra State, civic centres were built in Nimo Community of Njikoka Local<br>Government Area and Ukpo Community of Dunukofia Local Government Area. There were<br>also bore-hole projects executed in Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area and in<br>Abatete, Idemili North Local Government Area. In Ebonyi State, there abounds evidence of<br>community development projects executed by the communities through the mobilization<br>efforts of the community development officers. For instance, as at 2013, there are 12 microprojects<br>completed out of 22 embarked upon in 10 communities of Ohaozara Local<br>Government Area. The projects ranged from primary and secondary school buildings, handpump<br>and motorized bore-holes, market stalls, health centres to road construction and<br>maintenance (Okike, 2013). In Izzi Local Government Area, health clinic project has been<br>completed in Offerekpe, Ezzainyimagu Community while civic centre project is abandoned<br>in Mgbalukwu Community. In Afikpo South Local Government Area, Amoso Town Hall and<br>Ubeyi-Amoso Rest House projects are abandoned while Bux Culvert at Uzo-Ubi is<br>completed, all in Etiti Edda Community. In all the instances given, community development<br>12<br>projects are implemented by town unions using community mobilization strategies. However,<br>there are still cases of abandoned and/or uncompleted community development projects in<br>many communities within the South-East States.<br>Therefore, the strengthening of communities’ capacities to solve their own problems<br>through community mobilization strategies is one of the fundamentals of sustainable<br>community development (Majale, 2003). The strengthening of communities’ capacities<br>makes communities to employ community mobilization strategies such as capacity building<br>for stakeholders, formation of community coalitions, direct engagement of community<br>members, and creation of partnerships with organizations in the implementation of<br>community development projects.<br>As the employment of community mobilization strategy is important in the<br>implementation of community development projects, the training of town unions in the<br>various communities by community development officers became inevitable. This is because<br>there are still cases of abandoned and/or uncompleted community development projects in<br>many communities within the South-East States. There is therefore the need to determine the<br>extent to which these community mobilization strategies have been utilized in the<br>implementation of community development projects. It is against this background that the<br>researcher carried out this study.<br>Statement of the Problem<br>The communities in the South-East States of Nigeria are noted for embarking on<br>different community development projects in the form of self-help. Over the last two<br>decades, the implementation of the different community development projects has been<br>possible through community mobilization strategies that have been applied in the various<br>communities by community development officers. As a result, lots of investments are<br>employed into the projects. Even though, some successes have been reported from the use of<br>13<br>these strategies, not much is known about the extent of the success as the detailed<br>assessments of the effectiveness of the strategies is not readily available. Records available in<br>the various local government areas showed that there are many completed and commissioned<br>community development projects. However, there are also cases of uncompleted and/or<br>abandoned community development projects within the area. Without independent,<br>systematic and objective assessment, it is difficult to ascertain, consolidate and strengthen<br>good practices, discontinue or modify poor tools and deal with challenges. Furthermore, it<br>seems that lots of investment put into these community development projects are not<br>commensurate with the outcome.<br>More so, the level of community involvement in the planning, financing, execution,<br>operation and management of community development projects is still in doubt in some<br>communities. Without detailed assessment of the effectiveness of community mobilization in<br>the area of capacity building for stakeholders, formation of community coalition, direct<br>engagement of community members and creation of partnership with organizations, it is<br>difficult to justify the extent to which community mobilization strategies are utilized in<br>community development projects. Hence, as at present it is not possible to state the extent to<br>which the various town unions in the South-East States have been mobilized by community<br>development officers to implement community development projects using community<br>mobilization strategies. Therefore, the problem of the study posed as a question is: To what<br>extent have community mobilization strategies in terms of capacity building for stakeholders,<br>formation of community coalitions, direct engagement of community members, and creation<br>of partnerships with organizations been utilized in the implementation of community<br>development projects in South-East States of Nigeria?<br>14<br>Purpose of the Study<br>The main purpose of this research is to determine the extent of the utilization of<br>community mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development<br>projects in South-East States of Nigeria. Specifically, the study was to:<br>1. ascertain the extent to which capacity building for stakeholders has been utilized as<br>community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development<br>projects in South-East States.<br>2. determine the extent to which formation of community coalitions has been utilized as<br>community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development<br>projects in South-East States.<br>3. find out the extent to which direct engagement of community members has been<br>utilized as community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community<br>development projects in South-East States.<br>4. find out the extent to which partnering with organizations has been utilized as<br>community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development<br>projects in South-East States.<br>5. find out the challenges affecting the utilization of community mobilization strategies in<br>the implementation of community development projects in South-East States.<br>Significance of the Study<br>The findings of the study are practically expected to be of significance to the<br>following: people of South-East States of Nigeria, researchers, community development<br>professionals, scholars and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the three tiers of<br>government, and the initiators, organizers, mobilizers, members of town unions, community<br>mobilization policy developers, community leaders and service providers in the zone. The<br>results of the study will help people of South-East States to understand the aims and<br>15<br>objectives of community mobilization strategies to adopt which will enable them<br>carryout their roles effectively. The results of the study when published are expected to<br>help them to find out better ways of executing community development projects in their<br>respective communities through active co-operation and participation.<br>The findings of this study are expected to assist and challenge researchers,<br>community development professionals, and scholars in community mobilization and nongovernmental<br>organizations (NGOs) in finding out various ways through which community<br>mobilization strategies can be utilized for the implementation of community development<br>projects in the society. The community mobilization researchers, community development<br>professionals, and scholars will do that by educating the members of community<br>development organizations in the zone on the need for the utilization of community<br>mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development projects. The<br>findings of the study will also encourage the community mobilization researchers,<br>community development professionals, and scholars to join in the building of capacity<br>for improved community mobilization.<br>The findings of this study are expected to benefit the three tiers of government. It<br>will expose the government to a variety of supportive functions in various communities<br>thereby shifting from being implementers of community development projects to being<br>facilitators of community development projects. The findings will also create awareness on<br>part of the government on the need for training of the members of community development<br>organizations on the utilization of community mobilization strategies in the planning,<br>financing, implementation and maintenance of community development projects. The<br>findings will help the government in the proper dissemination of information and offering of<br>technical and managerial assistance to community development organizations members and<br>16<br>community stakeholders on matters pertaining to adequate utilization of community<br>mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development projects.<br>The initiators, organizers, mobilizers and members of town unions in the South-East<br>States will find this work very useful as a working document. The findings will enable them<br>cope with many problems that affect the effective utilization of community mobilization<br>strategies in the implementation of community development projects in the zone. The findings<br>of the study through the objective assessment of community mobilization strategies will help<br>to identify weaknesses and suggest ways of dealing with these weaknesses. It will help to<br>identify other factors that were previously ignored in community mobilization but are clearly<br>vital to successful implementation of community development projects. If well utilized, the<br>findings of the study will help to improve the effectiveness of community mobilization<br>methods and hence raise the level of community participation thereby producing greater<br>users’ responsibility in operations and maintenance of community development projects and<br>improve the sustainability of investments in community development projects. The findings<br>of the study are also expected to improve the quality of life of the rural communities and<br>reduce the operation and maintenance costs.<br>The community mobilization policy developers will find this piece of work very<br>useful. It will enable the experts in policy development to formulate policies in community<br>development that will utilize community mobilization strategy in community projects’<br>development. It will also enable them to rise up to the challenges of investigating, at the<br>grassroots level, the impact of political, economic, educational, health and agricultural<br>development policy planning, financing and implementation on community development<br>projects in Nigeria.<br>Finally, the findings of this study will be useful to the community leaders and service<br>providers. It will enable them to use the general system theory to mobilize and motivate<br>17<br>members of community development organizations in the execution of various community<br>development projects within their locality. The findings will also enable them to improve on<br>the result-oriented management and clarification of organizational roles and structures in the<br>development of community projects.<br>Research Questions<br>The following research questions were formulated and posed to guide the study:<br>1. To what extent has capacity building for the stakeholders been utilized as community<br>mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in<br>South-East States?<br>2. To what extent has formation of community coalitions been utilized as community<br>mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in<br>South-East States?<br>3. To what extent has direct engagement of community members been utilized as<br>community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development<br>projects in South-East States?<br>4. To what extent has creation of partnerships with community organizations been utilized<br>as community mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development<br>projects in South-East States?<br>5. What are the challenges affecting the utilization of community mobilization strategies<br>in the execution of community development projects in South-East States?<br>Hypotheses<br>The following null hypotheses were formulated and tested at .05 level of<br>significance:<br>H01 There is no significant difference (P&lt;.05) in the mean ratings of community<br>development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to<br>18<br>which capacity building for the stakeholders have been utilized as community<br>mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in<br>South-East States.<br>H02 There is no significant difference (P&lt;.05) in the mean ratings of community<br>development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to<br>which formation of community coalitions have been utilized as community<br>mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in<br>South-East States.<br>H03 There is no significant difference (P&lt;.05) in the mean ratings of community<br>development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to<br>which direct engagement of community members have been utilized as community<br>mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in<br>South-East States.<br>H04 There is no significant difference (P&lt;.05) in the mean ratings of community<br>development officers and members of town union executives on the extent to<br>which creation of partnerships with organizations have been utilized as community<br>mobilization strategy in the implementation of community development projects in<br>South-East States.<br>Scope of the Study<br>The study focused on the utilization of community mobilization strategies in the<br>implementation of community development projects in South-East States of Nigeria. The<br>study was restricted to only the community development officers and executive members of<br>the registered town unions at the local government level in all the five states of the South-<br>East States of Nigeria, comprising Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. The study<br>further focused on assessment of the extent to which capacity building for stakeholders,<br>19<br>formation of community coalitions, direct engagement of community members, and creation<br>of partnerships with organizations are utilized as community mobilization strategies in the<br>implementation of community development projects in South-East States.<br>Finally, the study determined the challenges affecting the utilization of community<br>mobilization strategies in the implementation of community development projects in South-<br>East States of Nigeria.<br>20 <br></p>