Community Capacity - Building and Participation: A Pre – requisite for Sustaining Governments’ Development Assistance at the Grass Roots.

Community Capacity -  Building and Participation: A Pre – requisite for Sustaining Governments’ Development Assistance at the Grass Roots.

Government implement policies and provide public services such as health, education, transport, water, sanitation, law and order, welfare and social support, and invest in physical infrastructure and maintenance through the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

These programmes/projects and services are ‘delivered’ to communities as passive recipients and beneficiaries of government development assistance. The non-inclusion and non-participation of the local people in the decision – making process and the government failure to enhance the capacity of the local people to participate in such project implementation takes the control outside the communities. Government experts remain in charge of the entire project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes. The inability of the government to consult the local people through community forum/platform means that community people are not given the opportunity to participate in making decision with regard to the government’s development assistance. This also means that community capacity building plan may not be part of the project.  Ultimately, communities may be unable to maintain or sustain such facilities and services when they are delivered to them.

 In their effort to implement various public interest programmes/projects and services, governments over the years have failed to consider how to address the capacity of communities to manage or co-manage their development assistance. To ensure the sustainability of its development projects, government should begin to adopt a strategy that support and encourage community management and maintenance of such facilities by empowering the people and building the capacity of the local communities. It is through such capacity building effort that local people can gain valuable skills to promote self-help and self-reliance and ensure community ownership, maintenance and sustainability of government programmes/projects and facilities at the community level.

 The ‘Top Down’ approach adopted by government over the years has only solved short term problems as majority of government services and facilities built in many communities are not adequately maintained. The “Top Down” approach restricts community capacity and initiative, disempowers local people, creates the mentality of dependence on the government, and stifles local leadership and local organizing. In fact, the outcome of this approach can best be described as enslavement camouflaged as public service. It is not just unsustainable; it provides temporary relief in terms of service delivery to the people.

 However, the ‘bottom – up’ approach adopted by social enterprises recognize that communities are diverse, consisting of a wide range of sectors, institutions, groups, associations and individuals with differing perceptions and interests, whose potentials must be harnessed to ensure their full participation in development. A key strategy is to ensure capacity building and empowerment of the local community people. It is often said that there is no development without participation and any approach that will be successful, should recognize the critical role of the local people themselves in determining their own development.

 While the ‘top down’ approach limits the participation of community networks, the ‘bottom – up’ strategy supports the building of social and human capacity, encourages community participation, and the inclusion of diverse range of people including those who have traditionally been marginalized by the mainstream society in development effort. Involving the local people in every development process, as well as improving the capacity of the local people can foster a sense of communal ownership and sustainability of governments development programmes/projects and services.