Abstract
M.A. (Social Sciences)
The engagement of local people in development projects has become a common phenomenon that development theorists and practitioners have emphasised for the past few decades. The debate was sparked by the realisation of the failure of the top-down approach to development which had serious consequences in project sustainability. Therefore, the bottom-up approach of community participation in development projects has been viewed as a panacea for sustainable projects at the grass roots level.
The study is based on the understanding that community participation is central in community development, in order to ensure sustainability. It has been observed and acknowledged from the empirical evidence that, despite the acceptance of participation as workable alternative and useful approach to community development, there are many collapsed projects and blame has been shifted to lack of funding and other factors such as economic meltdown as the major setbacks. Today, concerns are raised on the ineffectiveness of community participation, which may lead to project failures.
In many instances, local people have become recipients of pre-designed projects by outsiders and often the objects of administrative manipulation. This implies that development agents were determined to impose their own thinking and understanding of community participation on the community. As a result, development projects that local people were expected to take over in the implementation phase collapsed and such communities did not take responsibility for their failures. The question to be answered is whether community participation is the hallmark of project sustainability or just one of the processes that is necessary in development articulation.
It is against this background that the study explored factors associated with participation in income generating community projects in Botlokwa community in Molemole Local Municipality, Limpopo province. The qualitative method was employed in this study.