The Role of Community Participation in Decision Making: Case Study of Kandara Community Development Centres Programme

Abstract

Communi ty Developmen-t Programmes devoid of sufficient community participation cannot be as successful as would be expected. This is the contention of this thesis and, hence, the advocacy for community participation in decision-making in such cownunity programmes. According to this study the success of a community programme is Qotlargely determined by whether or not the community , "- ,is the one that initiated the programme in question. Rather, the crucial factor is whether the local community who are the beneficiaries were involved in the subsequent planning and implementation stages. Kandara Community Development Centre (KCDC) P'roqrarnme, though not initiated directly by the local c0TIU11unity,had the option of incorporating the community in the subsequent design, planning and implem~ntation stages. However, the study has found out that this involvement was limited and insufficient, and th~se are factors that have contributed significantly to the poor performance of the Programme. other minor, though important factors contributing to poor performance of the P'roqramme are management and financial problems, limited ~nvolvement of the Government of Kenya and political influence. (vi) For KCDC to be revived and to fully incorporate the issue of community participation rn decision-making a major structural overhaul is recommended. This option, hard as it may appear, will eventually steer the programme towards the realization of the community's felt needs, with sufficient involvement ot the beneficiaries in'decision-making.