Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to ascertain the extent to which motivational initiatives promote citizens’ participation in community development activities in Anambra and Imo States of Nigeria. Six research questions and six null hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 2, 357 respondents made up of members of registered Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in Anambra and Imo States. A sample of 853 respondents was drawn from the population using multi-stage proportionate sampling technique. Data collection instrument was self-structured questionnaire titled, ‘Questionnaire on Motivational Initiatives for Citizens’ Participation in Community Development Activities(QMICPCDA). The instrument was face validated by three experts, two in Community Development unit of Department of Adult Education & Extra-Mural Studies and one in Measurement and Evaluation Unit of Department of Science Education both from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. An overall reliability index of 0.91 was obtained using the Cronbach Coefficient Alpha. The null hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significant. Weighted mean and Standard Deviation were used in analyzing the collected data. Copies of the instrument were administered to the respondents through direct delivery technique. Data collected from respondents were analyzed using frequency counts, mean ratings were used

for other six research questions. Result of findings indicated that to a high extent, decentralization of power in communities, good leadership, identification of needs, respect for people’s culture, adequate funding and need selection has assisted citizens’ participation in communities in Anambra and Imo States. The findings further revealed that significant differences were not found in decentralization of power, good leadership and need selection in the communities of Anambra and Imo States. However, significant difference was found in the mean ratings of respondents from the two states regarding the extent to which identification of needs, adequate funding and respect for peoples’ culture has assisted citizens’ participation in the communities in Anambra and Imo States. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made that government and community leaders should encourage decentralization of power that is, power should be transferred from higher to local level to empower communities to work together, define and resolve their problems.

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Motivation is a combination of goals towards which human behaviour is directed, the process through which those goals are pursued and achieved and social factors involved (Jones, Jennifer & Hill, 2000). An individual is motivated through certain motivational factors that directs and sustains behaviour. According to them motivation is the force that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviour of human beings (Jones, Jennifer & Hill, 2000). Hornby (2006:345) defined motivation as eagerness and willingness to do something without needing to be told or forced to do it”. Motivation is a critical component of participation, it is important in getting citizens' to engage in development activities (Bernstein, 2011).

There are two types of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic (Reeve and Jang, 2006). Extrinsic is determined by the individual’s outside surrounding and specific tasks. Intrinsic motivation can be found within the individual since the task can be viewed as valuable. Therefore, when applying the effect that motivation has on the development process, it is clear that people participate better based on the perceived value of the task, subject matter, personal goals, financial incentives and wide array of different factors. As a gardener must know or should have sought to know which soil is more suitable to the plant and when and how much water should be required by plant, so must a community leader know how a citizen participates, how the factors like motivation facilitates the development process (Margolis & McCabe, 2006),

Motivation is vital in any development, it is viewed by (Cole,2001) as a process in which people choose between alternative forms of behaviour in order to achieve personal goals. He further stated that motivational initiatives are conditions by which organizational and personal goals are harmonized. This implies that motivational initiatives are drives towards the successful

1

2

attainment of community development programmes. Motivation is viewed by (Johnson & Thompson, 2007) as the force or condition within the organism that impels it to act or respond. Presumably, organisms are motivated by physiological needs such as hunger or thirst. These needs generate drives that have the tendency to behave in a manner likely to reduce the needs. Motivational initiatives in this study are those variables such as decentralization of power in community development, good leadership, identification of community needs, respect for people’s culture, adequate funding, and need selection that are capable of promoting community development activities. They constitute vital elements in deciding the level of participation of adults in community development programmes (Beard, 2003).

However, within the context of this study, motivational initiatives for citizens' participation are psychological features that arouse within individuals in the community to act, control, sustain and achieve their desirable goals (Cole, 2001). These features include reward, praise, bonus, and recognition among others which trigger off action by individuals in the community for community progress. Thus, Nwizu (1997) submits that an individual exerts some energy towards attainment of a goal when the individual is said to be motivated. Obeta, Omeje & Omeje (2003) added that motivation is a process by which the learners' internal energies are directed towards bringing the entire populace into the sphere of citizens' participation in order to create a more equitable and livable environment both in urban and rural areas.

Consequently, Felix (2003) stipulated the importance of motivational initiatives as thus:

Participation   and   inclusion:    where   all   members   are   involved  in   the   planning   and

implementation stage.

A holistic approach: Which acknowledges the interdependency that exists between groups within communities at the local, national and international levels.

Diversity: Diversity within the communities is acknowledged and built upon to ensure new approaches that can be integrated into the culture of the community.

3

Responsiveness: Community development approaches have to be dynamic to respond to the differing needs of communities as they arise.

Sustainability: Building community capacity has sustainable qualities between the groups and organization; develop the ability and responsibilities to maintain community ‘owned’ initiatives. Operational definition of motivational initiatives simply means the ability to decide and act on your own without waiting for somebody to tell you what to do. For motivational initiatives to be meaningful, they have to be citizens'participation.

Citizens' participation, as a concept, describes the involvement of community members in the affairs or activities that are designed to enhance the development of the community. As Anyanwu (1986) noted, citizens' participation implies a right to something. In the case of community development, it implies the involvement of community. Citizens' participation implies much more than involvement. It calls forth other features, namely democracy or democratic participation, self-helps, and education. The idea of citizens' participation is based on the tested tradition of free enterprise and the rights of the community members. When we strive towards effecting a change for the well-being of community members, the point must always be remembered that the individual has his inherent and legal right to humane treatment. The ability to solicit his support and participation are the primary ingredients of the free enterprise and thereby democratic participation. Democracy is based on these percept, namely free-will and self-help. Democracy in community development implies development of the people, by the people and for the people (Anyanwu, 1981). This is the democratic rule that marks the philosophy of development.

Citizens' participation is a process which provides individuals an opportunity to influence public decisions. It has long been a component of the democratic decision-making process (Smith, 2006). Citizens' participation in community development, as an approach to development strategy has been in practice since the 1970s. International health agencies were the first to begin to promote and finance it on an international scale. Citizens' participation is an educational empowering process in which people, in partnership with those able to assist them,

4

identify their needs and assume responsibility to plan, manage, control, and assess the collective actions that are necessary based on shared interest on what one can do best (Egenti, 2002). Citizens' participation emphasized total control by the community members and lesser degree of government imposition of projects on the people (community), by allowing the community to do the work among themselves without external assistance.

In addition, citizens' participation utilizes the skills and capabilities of individuals in a community for decision making and influencing the institutions and programmes that affect

them (Smith, 2006). Citizens' participation makes people to respond to development programmes (Abiona, 2003). He sees citizens' participation as a process of giving information on development programmes that could in turn elicit the desired awareness in community members for effective community development process. It aids people’s wisdom and give power to the people to solve their problem and use resources available at their disposal. These resources could be physical cash, material and non material resources. The material resources include things like money, raw materials, equipment etc while the non materials include a combination of time, knowledge, popularity, social status, official position, power, influence, almost all of which are built around the human elements (Igbuzor, 2005).

Citizens' participation in development is viewed by (Osuji, 2004) as the engagement by community members in all the various decision-making processes in project implementation. Citizens' participation is not just all about getting people involved in decision-making process. It also involves the ability to understand and share in the experiences of other people even when those experiences were failures, for there is usually a lesson to learn from other peoples’ situation. The principle of citizens' participation implies that the workers have to supply the necessary and needed stimulus for the success of the project (Anyanwu, 2002). Accordingly, citizens' participation in development has assumed centre stage as an important condition for achieving accelerated and sustainable development. It has also become a central element in people-centered development strategy (Denscombe, 2010). Consequently, many development

5

practitioners and agencies have emphasized the need to secure active support and participation of the citizens' involved in the development process. The World Bank (2005) asserts that this era was largely dominated by efforts towards promoting citizens' participation in community development. This led to a fundamental shift in attitudes and methodologies. Typically, this led to the breakdown of the top-down non-participatory practice in community development. Consequent upon this, from the 1990s, several major international agencies, such as Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Bank, United Nations International Children’s

Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP) as well as numerous other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) began to champion the cause of citizens participation in the development processes. Operational definition of citizens' participation is a tool to help your community make better decisions. For citizens' participation to be meaningful, they have to be community development.

The most popular definition of community development came from the United Nations which summarizes community development as the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of governmental authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities to integrate these communities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progress. Presently, this definition is universally accepted. The term community development is described by (O’Mara-Eves, 2013) as a way of working underpinned by a commitment to equity, social justice and participation that enables people to strengthen networks and to identify common concerns and support people in taking action related to the networks. It respects community – defined priorities, recognizes community assets as well as problems, gives priorities to motivational initiatives and is a key mechanism for enabling meaningful participation in the community development

Community development according to Combat Poverty(2000) is a process whereby those who are marginalized and excluded are enabled to gain self-confidence to join with others and to participate in actions to change their situation and tackle the problem that face their

6

community. Lee(2003) argued that this definition is based on a broad understanding of citizenship that regards people as having a right to influence and participate in the decisions that affect them and to have their experiences and views listened to and acted on. Community development is potentially a means whereby people can achieve this right. This refers to participation in decision-making and collective action, leading to an agenda of social inclusion and amelioration of poverty.

Community development is both an occupation (such as a community development worker in a local authority) and a way of working with communities. Community Development Exchange (2010) affirmed that the key purpose of community development is to build communities based on justice, equality and mutual respect. It involves changing the relationship between ordinary people in positions of power, so that everyone can take part in the issues that affect their lives. It starts from the principle that within any community there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which if used in creative ways can be channeled into collective action to achieve the communities desired goals.

The essence of community development is well captured in the Budapest Declaration (2004) which emphasized on strengthening civil society, empowerment and an agenda of social change. In this context, community development is a way of strengthening civil society by prioritizing the action of communities and their perspectives in the development of social, economic and environmental policy. It seeks the empowerment of local communities, taken to mean both geographical communities, communities of interest or identity and communities organizing around specific themes or policy initiatives. It strengthens the capacity of people as active citizens' through their community groups, organizations and networks, and motivations of citizens' and agencies(communities, government and non-governmental) to work in dialogue with citizens' to shape and determine change in their communities. It plays a crucial role in supporting active democratic life by promoting the autonomous voice of disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. American Heritage Dictionary Internet (2004) asserted that community

7

development includes activities that increase the positive outcomes possible within a community by linking individuals and organizations working towards common goals. It also includes long term process whereby people who are marginalized or living in poverty work together to identify their needs, create change, exert more influence in the decision which affect their lives and work together to improve the quality of their lives and community in which they live and the society of which they are part of.

Community development also includes the process of improving the social, economic and cultural conditions of a village or small town, and a variety of activities done within or on behalf of a community to add to or enhance it in some ways. It may include housing, construction, developing corporation or rehabilitation of structure. Based on the fore-going, community development is aimed at the improvement of persons either as individual, group or society at large and their living situation. It deals with both material and non-material living for the whole community relaying on their resources, initiative and participation. Operational definition of community development is a process whereby community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems.

Community development has been a universal concept applied to national programmes for development. The concept and practice of community development has never been a new phenomenon in Nigeria specifically or in the world generally. Onwuamalem (2003) stated that the history of community development in Nigeria is traceable to the days of Eastern Nigeria as shown by the fact that mutual co-operation existed among families and groups. He further revealed that it received some encouragement from Chadwick, an administrative officer in the former Eastern Nigeria who activated communities in Udi, Enugu State to build schools, roads, churches, market to mention but few. During this time, the people were short in a film captured