COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND METHODOLOGY

COURSE OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY
RATIONALE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES
PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

SOCIAL ACTION DEVELOPMENT MODELS

MEANING OF SOCIAL ACTION MODEL
TYPES OF SOCIAL ACTION MODELS
IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL ACTIONS MODELS

EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY ENTRY

MEANING OF COMMUNITY ENRTY
TYPES OF COMMUNITY ENTRY
TECHNIQUES OF HANDLING ISSUES IN COMMUNITY ENTRY

COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
CONCEPTS OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
CHALLENGES OF COMMUN ITY MOBILIZATION
STRATEGIES OF MOBILIZING PEOPLE

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
MEANING OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
TECHNIQUES OF PROMOTING COMMUNITY PARTICPATION
DETERMINANTS OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
STAGES OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATORY
COMPONENTS OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
IMPACT OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION ON DEVELOPMENT
PRINCIPLES OF PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT
OBSTACLES TO PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT

PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

IMPORTANCE OF PARTICPATORY METHODOLOGIES
TYPES OF PARTICPATORY METHODOLOGIES
IMPACT OF THE PARTICPATORY METHODOLOGIES

MONITORING PARTICIPATORY IMPACT

STEPS IN MONITORING PARTICIPATORY IMPACT
WAYS OF CREATING INDICATORS
DOCUMENTATION DECISIONS
CHANGES IN MONITORING
PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION
DOMAIN OF EVALUATION
PURPOSE OF PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION
PLANNING FOR PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION
TOOLS FOR PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION

APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES
IMPACT OF THE DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES
TYPES OF FUNDING AGENCIES
CHALLENGES FACING DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES

EMERGING TENDS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

EMERGING TERNDS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
TOPIC I: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND METHODOLOGY
Community development methodology refers to all forms of betterment and approaches
undertaken by government and NGOs to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of
the community (s).
It integrates the community into the life of the nation and enables them to contribute fully to
national progress.
Community
A community sociologically is a collective of individuals within a geographical boundary
serving common goals, culture, and character and continuously interacts.
Development
It is an improvement or positive change in state of affairs of a particular community.
Community development
According to UNO 1963 - it is a process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united
with those of the government authorities to improve the socio-cultural and economic conditioned
of the community in order to integrate them and make them contribute fully towards national
congress.
According to Christermson and Robertson – community development is a group of people in a
community reaching the decision to initiate social progress to change their economic, culture and
environmental situations.
Rationale / objectives of community development
1. To help people find methods of organizing themselves into groups and carry out
programmes
2. To promote unity among people
3. To promote the spirit of self reliance
4. To provide technical assistance to community members (transfer of knowledge)
5. To involve people in planning, implementation and evaluation of developmental
activities in the communities
Theories / philosophies in community methodology
Different scholars view community development differently; it is seen as a process, a method, a
programme or a movement.
As a process: it moves by stages which would involve progression of change from where people
participate to where many people participate in development.
As a method: it constitutes means to an end that it constitutes ways of working towards the set
goals (seen as solving a problem)
As a programme: it is seen as a set of activities that includes procedures with list of activities to
be undertaken by the community members.
Most NGOs look at community development as a programmed thus divides their activities in
sections.
As a movement: it is seen as a crusade or course of channel which people become committed to
in order to achieve positive change desired e.g. Green Belt Movement such as planting trees by
Professor Wangare Maathai.
Elements of community development
According to Steven R Cobi
Elements of ideal community are as follows
 One standard (same standard or level)
 One heart (feel equally) or feel the same way
 One mind (think the same)
 Economic equality (sharing common activities to resolve social imbalances)
Theories / Assumptions in community development
1. The developer have goals and actions carried out in pursuit of these goals
2. Action / development often involves selection of means to attain goals; that is people
choose activities and how to undertake them in order to achieve goals
3. Developer always have many goals but choose one among others to start with
4. Development take place in a set situation that is social interest (social environment which
give free provision of idea)
5. Developer always make certain assumptions concerning the nature of his / her goals
6. Development is not only influenced by the developer situation but also the knowledge of
the situation.
7. Developer has a certain sentiments of effective preposition e.g. attitudes which offer both
his perception of his / her situation to ascertain its goals
 8. Developer have certain ideas on mode of cognition (thought) which affect its selective
perception of situation

TOPIC II: SOCIAL ACTION DEVELOPMENTMODELS

These models state that community undertakes a collective action to resolve a social problem. It
argues that social action rest on recognition that people can improve their society through
organized collective efforts. Large scale social action entail large number of people joining
together to support causes aimed at improving g some aspect of the society i.e. giving help to the
needy and protecting social injustices.
The people are held to carry out the activities by professional social activists, lawyers, social
workers, community organizers etc.
Social action is brought about by cooperative effort between members of a community and
community development workers.
There are various categories of social action
1. Induced social action model
2. Spontaneous social action model
3. Quasi stationery equilibrium action
4. Marx Weber social action model
5. Carl Marx typology social action model
6. Biddle and Biddle social action model
Social action activists include
i. Political groups
ii. Human rights activists groups
iii. Trade unions
iv. Social movement groups e.g. green belt movement
1. Induced Social Action Model
This model was initially developed by Beal and Bohlen (1955). It consists social action social
action model occurring in stages.
1st Exploratory stage
This is where the change agent meets the community members at the market centre or baraza.
The change agent looks at the quality of good leader among the community members and he
discusses the problem of the community in detail.
The change agent also identifies the local available groups and the local available resources.
It gathered the physical information about the members and social economic status of the
community. The process last for months depending on how the community is cooperating.
2nd Organization stage
The change agent calls for a meeting and members who are willing to discuss community
problems in details. The community members who come to this meeting choose a committee
which may be formalized through a constitution.
3rd Discussion stage
The change agent encourages widespread discussion of the problem of the community. The
community members join the discussion; increase their awareness of the community and its
problem.
Te officials are encouraged to choose one problem and focus the discussion of the problem and
focus the discussion of the problem and focus on the alternative ways of dealing with it.
4th Group decision making stage
This requires a consensus and the decision making may be made through a formal or informal
state.
5th Planning for social action stage
The chosen committee needs to examine the chosen problem. The goals to be acted or set and
agreement is met on resources. Need for implementation and how they are to be acquired both
from within and outside the community.
The program of activities in terms of who does what is also made.
6th Action stage
Here people carry out the action on activities planned. This stage calls for active involvement
through labour, money and other material resources.
7th Evaluation stage
This is where the progress of the project is revealed. Mistakes are rectified and constraints taken
into account.
Evaluation is done by community members through the assistance of change agent.
8th Subsequent action stage (replication)
This is where the community implements other project after the first one has succeeded using
their past experiences.
The process usually move very first as they can complete one project after the other.

2. Spontaneous social action model

The model states that the ideas considered by a single individual may form the basis of social
action. Wilden 1970 sees social action as developing through steps which job I, We, group and
Do step.
Job step: this is where some need is identified by at least an individual who interprete in terms
of a job to be done.
The I step: is where the individual has to think of the job, its various dimensions and has to
convince him or her self about its desirability. It must be sufficiently convinced to be willing to
invest time and energy, financial resources and reputation to get it done.
We step: the individual talk to other people to win their interest and to get their help. They talk
to other community members about the task to be performed. They are termed as “spark plugs”
Group step: it concerns with how the interested community members organize themselves for
action. They may hold a meeting and talk about how the task are to be performed by so doing a
general concern of the problem may grow and group is made about desirable action.
Do step: it is where project chosen by community is initiated
3. Quasi stationery equilibrium action
The model was developed by Lewis in 1970. It is suitable in situation where work is done in
groups. The model is based on three assumptions.
1st Assumption: that there are positive forces in a situation that support a given level of
behaviour and negative level which opposes this level of behaviour.
2nd Assumption: when the positive and negative forces are balanced, a state of equilibrium is
reached / obtained.
3rd Assumption: change in behaviour can result when positive forces are strengthened or when
positive forces are weakened or eliminated. This scholar (Lewis) believed that change could be
brought about by three steps.
1st step unfreezing
In this step we study the situation and discover the existing level of behaviour. During this stage
we should make an effort to cover positive and negative that exists in the situation.
2nd step moving stage
This is the step where you alter forces to the desired direction by adding to or strengthening the
positive forces, weakening or eliminating the negative forces or doing both.
3rd step freezing by Wileden
It involves stabilizing the new level of behaviour.
The scholar holds that this model work be in crisis than normal situation i.e. FGM
Factors motivating social action
1. Discontent; this can be due to deprivation, distributive imbalance and status inconsistency.
2. Structural blockage; this is a situation whereby structure within the society do not provide you
with what you need due to blockage of some structure.
3. Ideology; these are set of beliefs, values, normal or ethics that provide a frame of preference of
a given community.
4. Contract; this is interaction among people and it enables people to internalize other people’s
ideas hence make decision on what to do.
5. Efficiency; this is the probability of success; people are more inclined in doing something if
they see some success ahead.
6. Leadership; this is to give direction in any community when it comes to mobilization of
people and resources.
7. Resources; when resources are available for undertaking any development task people usually
get attracted to action.
Importance of social action model
 They provide the best approaches to social action
 They shade more light about social action by explaining and describing how best social
action can be achieved
 They emphasize community for participation
 They provide more information and skills hence building the body of knowledge.

TOPIC III: EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY ENTRY

This is a process which is very important in initiating community development programmes.
 It leads to partnership and interdependency between and among community members and
other stakeholders alongside mutual respects, trust and recognition.
 It also tracks community involvement and participation in decision making and
implementation in development projects.
 The success of the community development depends entirely on the extent to which
change agents make their first step in the community.
 For outsiders to enter a community, they need community leaders like chiefs, pastors,
politicians etc.
Theories of Community entry
1. Frozen community theory entry
According to this theory, the community members lack skills on management and maintenance
of their projects. Therefore the change agents have to train Para-technicians who in turn will be
in charge of training other community members.
This training will enable community members to warm up and start progressing.
The Assumption here is that the Para- technicians motivates and attracts commitments of the
community members.
As training continues, constant evaluation between the adopters (Para-technicians) and the
outsider (change agents) takes place. Para- technicians remain responsible to the community.
2. The 3Cs theory of community entry
According to many researchers, this theory is appropriate for mobilizing people in a community
where project implementation experience both resistance and acceptance.
According to this theory in any given community usually form group themselves in three main
categories depending on issues / projects that need support.
(a) Co – operating group (risk takers); this is the group that support the implementation of
the proposed project (usually interested people).
(b) The campaigned group; this is a group composed of people who have not decided thus
needs the creation of awareness in order to decide whether the project is to be
implemented or not.
(c) Non – conformer group (the lagged); this is a group made of people who oppose the
idea of implementing the project.
Steps in community entry and exit
1. Familiriazation
This is where change agent introduces her / his self to the community.
This process involves consultation, role identification and getting to k now the community
visiting both formal and informal organization or group so as to know more about them.
2. Negotiation
The change agent begin to explain the various potential stakeholders, their aims, the process
involve their target group or groups and condition underlying their partnership with stakeholders
mentioned.
3. Creation of awareness / situation analysis / community diagnosis
This involves participatory process of identification of local resources opportunities, constraints
and their underlying causes.
4. Target group selection
This is done to avoid possibility of hijacking resources meant for poor b y those in power.
5. Deciding on action to be taken
This is deciding on felt needs that require agent action
6. Training on sustainability and maintenance
Here capacity building is done as per plan. The content of training includes communication
skills, competence and technical skills; monitoring and evaluation and attitude change.
7. Participatory, monitory and evaluation
The community members are expected to monitor and evaluate their effort to learn more out of
the process.
They learn to share labour as well as the outcome of their labour.
8. Organization formation / strengthening exit ones and networking
The role of external agency represented here is to ensure the sustainability of NGOs, CBOsor
groups in the community.
9. Withdrawal
The external agency support is faced out gradually to allow the community members take full
control of their developmental activities.
10. Documentation
The project experiences are documented for further reference.

Types of community entry

1. Direct community entry: entering a community without the help of a community leader; the
community must have been penetrated before.
2. Indirect community entry: used where a community has been penetrated thus the rigt
community leaders are used.

Techniques of handling issues on Community Entry

Challenges met during community entry
1. Poor community entry point
2. Corrupt leaders
3. Lack of organized structure to address community needs
4. Poor knowledge of the community environment
5. Culture of silence among the community environment
6. Wrong conception of project objectives
7. Wrong expectation among community members
8. Lack of expertise in the community facilities
Techniques of handling challenges met during community entry
1. Effective communication techniques
This involves the flow of information from the source to the receiver. A change agent needs to
have good communication skills in order to win the target group.
2. Credibility (trustworthy) of the side of the change agent
A change agent needs to be perceived as somebody who can be trusted and a role model to the
community members.
3. Empathy
A change agent should have the ability to fit in the shoe (life) of the target group.
4. Collective decision making
A change agent has to involve the target group in all stages of project implementation that is
project identification, project planning, implementation and project evaluation.
5. Reciprocity
A change agent needs to give feed back to the community members about any activity they
involve in themselves in.
Steps in community entry to exit

TOPIC IV: COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

This is the process whereby a group of people transcends (forgo or forget) their differences to
reach equal term in order to facilitate participatory decision making process.
It is the process of dialogue or negotiation between the change agent and the community
members to determine who, what, how issues are decided upon.
It provides an avenue fro everyone to participate in decision that affects their lives.
Importance of community mobilization
1. Create a sense of responsibility in then development process
2. Promote willingness to participate in development process
3. Create good relationship between developer and community members
 4. It makes development easier and cheaper in the side of change agent
5. It gives the community participants opportunity to put forward their felt needs, practice
them and facilitate their implementation.
6. It helps in identification of resources required particularly resource persons
7. It educates the community since it involves provision of knowledge and skills crucial for
successful development.
The underlying assumptions in community mobilization
1. The process of mobilization depends on the willingness of give up individual interest for
the sake of community interest.
2. Rapport building; this involves creating understanding between the community
members and the developer
3. Transparency and accountability; community developer must be trusted with
community resources and those from the agency.
4. Community participation is very important in local resource mobilization.
Challenges of community mobilization

Community mobilization strategies

1. The facilitative strategy
This is enhancing people’s ability to apart and change by providing the right information to the
community.
This is strategy is based on the following assumptions;
(a) The target group must recognize their problem and willing to solve it.
(b) The target group are willing to have external assistance
(c) The target group are willing to engage in self help activities
Duties of a facilitator
1. Making the target group aware of different options; they can use to assist themselves in
realizing change.
2. Clarifying issues that emanates e.g. identifying some opportunities that the community
does see
3. Have technical knowledge about the problem to be solved.
Where facilitation is suitable
The facilitation where:
1. The target group have many goals
2. Where change require active participation of the community members
2. Re - Educative strategy
This is where the change agent tries to move the community from what they believe to what the
change agent feel is right.
It is a relatively unbiased presentation of facts to provide a rational justification about a
particular change with sole aim of making a rational decision on the best way forward.
This strategy is based on the assumption that human beings are rational and are capable of
discovering facts and adjust their behaviour according to the information provided.
The strategy aims at:
1. Overcoming what has been learnt before providing new knowledge and skills to replace
the old ones
2. Providing knowledge and skills which has never been possessed before about change.
Note: it is suitable where the target group have moral barriers and characteristics that need to
change.
Techniques for effective Educative strategy
1. Use media campaign that addresses moral issues to reduce fear or anxiety
 2. Creating structural programmes and workshops
This involves recreational activities such as sports i.e. athletes, walk, games etc.
It is only appropriate for small group or groups and allows them to go back to the community to
serve as trainers.

3. Persuasive strategy
This strategy tries to bring changes through biased presentation of facts.
Here the change agent does not provide accurate information about change especially when
he/she realizes that the target group may fail to adopt change.
Differences between Educative and Persuasive strategies
Educative Persuasive
Facts are presented the way they are No pure facts to that effect
Change agents rely more on rational facts Change agents rely more on non rational
inducement

Situations where persuasive strategy is applicable

1. The target group is not aware of the need for change or have low commitment to change
2. When facts are ambiguous and costly or the benefits are difficult to point out.
3. When rapid change is required
4. Power strategy
Her force is used to obtain compliance of the target group on a particular project. The target
population is not given opportunity or options to choose the type of change they want. This is
determined by the implementer.
It is applied where:
i. There is a short term limit
ii. The project is meant to change behaviour and not attitude of the people
Condition for the use of power strategy
i. The implementer of change must possess the required resources
ii. The implementer of change must monopolize the access to such rewards and
resources
iii. It is applied where people are not committed to change
Limitations of power strategies
1. It alienates the developer from the target group because the change implemented is not
perceived by the target group as beneficial
2. It is very expensive since all resources required comes from a developer
3. It does not promote commitment among the target group members

TOPIC V: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

This is a human centred development meant to enlarge people’s capability in terms of skills,
productivity, and innovativeness. Thus people must be empowered to take part in the community
development action (s).
Types of community participation
1. Institutional participation
Here people involve in already acquired project and the decision making power does not rest
with the community but administrators, leaders, community elites. This is the most common of
participation.
2. Transformational participation
This is where the decision emanates from the beneficiary of the project. It is a grassroot approach
to development programme. It empowers people to control their own action and power rest with
the people themselves. People become self reliance in terms of knowledge sharing.

Techniques of promoting community participation

1. Information sharing technique of participation
The developer must go to the people and share the information with them especially on
merits of the project once they understand the project then they will be willing to participate
in its implementation.
2. Consultation technique
This involves consultation of the local people and among the expertise themselves.
Consultation means involving the people in the project before it picks up.
3. Participatory decision making technique
It involves empowering the people to prioritize their needs and make final decision making for
themselves. The developer only act according to people’s decision.
4. Initiative action participation
People are allocated duties and roles to play in the development process. It involves who does
what, when and how.
5. Implementation participation
Involve bringing people in the development process only during implementation stage.
6. Participation in sharing of benefits
The community is made to share the benefits of the project
7. Participation in monitoring and evaluation
People are involved in monitoring of the projects initiated by project developer then evaluate its
successes and failure in the end.
Determinants of community participation

Stages of community participatory

Components of effective community participation

Importance of community participation

1. Helps the community members share; participation of community members’ ideas
2. It improves relationship between change agent and community members thus speeds up
the development
3. Through community participation the members share the benefit that accrue form their
projects
4. The community members get to learn new skills from each other
5. There is creation of sense of responsibility among the community members
6. The community members can alter the roles and regulations that does not favour them in
community project
7. The community members get to discover the potentiality of community members
8. The community contribute both human and material resources
9. The participation of the community members ensure the sustainability of the project
10. It creates a sense of ownership
11. It reduces the cost of running the project
12. The community is at the position to know whether the project is beneficial or not
Impact of community participation on development
Principles of participatory development
1. Principle of felt need
2. Principle of agreed upon goals
3. Principle of involvement
4. Principle of cooperation
5.

Obstacle to participatory development

TOPIC IV: PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

The participation of all the stakeholders in nay community is of significant in the pursuit and
achievement of laid down goals concerned parties.
In favour of these, there are a variety of approaches that can be used with consideration given in
the prevailing conditions of the location or community at hand.
There are two main development approaches used namely:
a) Rapid rural appraisal
b) Participatory rural appraisal
True development means the improvement of the quality of life of the majority of the people
regardless of their source of livelihood and where they live.
Origin and application of Rapid Rural Appraisal and Participatory Rural Appraisal
These two approaches came into being in 1970s.
They developed in response to the disappointment, the criticism and the assumption through
which earlier development work was traced (based).
The techniques in RRA & PRA and tools originate in variety of discipline and various traditions
of the community and decision making in community e.g. they originated from Agro-ecosystem
analysis of farming systems, research of the 1970s.
Rapid Rural Appraisal
It is a method that is considered to be quick, it is also economical and it emerged in 1970s.
It is a learning process by outsiders
It also involved listening, research, interactive and verification including tranquilation of data
from different sources.
It is a method that can be used by different multi-disciplinary teams.
The purpose of using RRA & PRA
1. To avoid male biases
Most of the contributions from the community is undertaken by men and they usually establish
contact with the men and yet it is the women who are poor and underprivileged
2. To avoid professional biases
This happens when individuals in the community only looks for what they think e.g. progressive
farmers will only look for new agricultural ideas.
3. To avoid project biases
When the community is involved in identification and planning for the project, they will choose
a project that is relevant to them e.g. Gezira irrigation scheme in Sudan and Ujamaa village in
Tanzania among others.
4. To avoid spartial biases
These two methods ensure that there is equal distribution of resources and development project
that are relevant to very community.
Principles (characteristics) of PRA
1. It is a multi-disciplinary and wholistic approach
 2. There is sharing of ideas and information
3. There is presentation and learning by the local people
4. It is bottom up approach that is, the community decides on the project to be implemented
5. It uses a technique of semi – structured interviews (use of flexible check lists instead of
questionnaires)
6. It deliberately seeks diversity that is looking for variations on the patterns, exceptions and
contradictions.
How to conduct PRA
1st step Site selection
This is the venue in which PRA is conducted; it can be done by government officers or any other
field worker who identifies a community which needs development assistance. It can be done by
an organized community groups requesting assistance.
It can also be done by the local leaders such as chiefs who may approach PRA practitioners.
NGOs working or intending to begin work in a given community may approach the PRA
practitioners to initiate the process.
PRA practitioners themselves may approach the community and introduce the idea.
2nd step introduction to the community
It involves familiarizing of PRA team to the community through visiting and interacting with the
community members to learn about what goes on in the community.
The interaction should be random and without biases; that is the PRA team should interact with
both leader and community members freely for learning purpose.
3rd step community review meeting
This is where several formal meeting are arranged with community leaders such as assistant
chief or their representatives. In the meeting, details of PRA are discussed and questions
answered.
In planning meetings, all concerned parties go over the details and work plan of PRA exercise
(activities)
It is during this time that the community is divided into working zones.
4th step launching
This takes place in a public meeting organized by the local, administrative or other community
leaders in consultation with PRA team.
5th step data gathering
PRA data gathering exercise is to help the community make sense out of their scattered
information.
Secondary data are readily available from both published and unpublished sources as well as
from other project activities within the community.
Advantages of PRA
1. It is bottom up approach
2. Development strategies are based on real needs within the skills, capabilities and
capacities of the local people
3. The locals participate in their own development projects
4. It enables the community members undermine the role of external agencies that can be
called upon to provide assistance.
5. It promotes community plans that are sustainable
6. It is gender sensitive
7. There is respect for local cultural values, institutions and knowledge system of the
people in all attempt to address their problems
8. PRA creates awareness among the down individuals (marginalized or undermined
individuals in the community)
Disadvantages of PRA
1. It is expensive and so cannot be used when the community does not have the resources or
access to resources necessary to act on a project
2. It is time consuming as PRA entails living in the community along time
3. Cannot be used to solve emergency problems
4. The detailed information collected can sometimes never be implemented
Impact of the participatory methodologies
TOPIC VII: MONITORING PARTICIPATORY IMPACT
It is taking part on looking at how a project is fairing on through different stages until it
succeeds. Monitoring participatory impact can be done by collective efforts of community
members and the change agents.
Monitoring is the routine process of collecting information and managing projects/programmes.
It provides feedback as pertains to the management of the project/programme implementation.
What makes the monitoring participatory is the involvement of the local people to participate in
the process of monitoring i.e. they are incorporated into monitoring team.
The purpose of monitoring
 To ensure that the inputs are readily in time
 It ensures that adjustments are made on time and as necessary
 It ensures that work plans are carried out as closely as possible
 It ensures that the stakeholders are kept informed on time
 It ensures that constraints and bottle necks can be foreseen and timely solutions found
 It ensures that resources are utilized effectively and efficiently
Note: in summary monitoring ensures that project resources are being used as budgeted, as
planned for and check if a project is meeting the objectives.
For effective monitoring there must ne indicators
You can only monitor activities in a set of indicators
Indicators
The means by which the outcome of the project can be understood or measured.
It is a gauge or standard against which change is measured. The indicator is a yardstick against
which the projects are accessed.
Proxy indicators
These are indicators which stand for other indicators. They are used to assess qualitative changes
i.e. attitude, acquisition of knowledge, change in standard of living, behaviour etc.
Indicators may be viewed into two approaches
a) Qualitative
b) Quantitative
Qualitative indicators
Qualitative approaches measures the following approaches of change
 They measure the level of awareness
 The presence of racial discrimination
 Measures values and attitudes
 Measure evidenced of resistance
 Measure the ability of perceptions
 The quality of awareness
 The capacity of the society/community
 Accessibility
 The sustainability of something
 Composition of a community
 Improvement of a situation
 Feature of something
 The standard of something
 Capacity and capability of community members
Quantitative indicators
 Measures value of something
 Measure the distance
 The capacity of something in terms of volume
 The weight of something
 The size of something
 The length of something
 The area of something
 The number of something
 The percentage of something
Qualities of a good indicator
1. Has to be relevant to the change being measured
2. It must not be ambiguous but specific
3. It must be sensitive o diversity and uniqueness
4. It must be timely; must be relative to the time you have in mind i.e. when measuring
annual crop production, don’t incorporate those that are not annual
 5. A good indicator must be measured and verifiable
6. A good indicator should be sensitive to the confidentiality and therefore the source to
information
7. A good indicator should be able to measure only the change that can be directly attributed
to the project
Types of indicators / ways of creating indicators
1. Indicator of validity; shows whether something exists or available e.g. one trained social
worker for every 10 home
2. The indicator of relevance; it shows whether it is relevant or appropriate e.g. when new
stoves burn less fuel to the old ones
3. Indicator of accessibility; shows whether whatever exists is within the reach of those
who need or use it e.g. accessibility of health facilities, accessibility of means of
transport, accessibility of educational facilities
4. Indicator of utilization; shows what extent what is available is being used e.g. how
many illiterate villages attending literacy classes
5. Indicator of coverage; shows the proportion of those who need something and are
receiving that something e.g. the number of people with TB and what percentage are
receiving regular treatment
6. The indicator of good quality; shows the standard of something e.g. whether water is
free of harmful organisms
7. Indicator of effort; show how much is hoe or much is not being invested to achieve the
objectives e.g. if you are interested in a well, you need 50 people, how many do you
have?
8. Indicator of efficiency; shows whether resources and activities are being put to the best
possible use to achieve set objectives e.g. a number of frequency and quality of
supervisory visits after introducing bicycle to replace vehicles
9. Indicator of impact; shows whether what you are doing is really making any difference
e.g. ids there a decrease in the level of a disease
Advantages of monitoring participatory impact
1. There is a higher chance of project sustainability because the change agent and the
community members are involved
 2. It creates a sense of ownership and responsibility between the community members and
the change agent
3. It eases the achievement of goals and objectives of the project
4. There is a room for correcting one another in cases of mistakes
5. The community is in a position to identify resource persons through their suggestions
6. The community members are able to know if they are making progress or not
7. The community members are becoming self reliant because they will be able to identify
problems and collectively solve them
8. The community is in a position to drop all the regulations that doesn’t help the project
and include the helpful ones
9. The change agent is in a position to see how to identify and use the locally available
resources
Disadvantages of monitoring participatory impact
1. Individuals’ weaknesses are aired out thus bringing conflict if people don’t accept
corrections
2. It puts the community and change agent in a panic situation if the project is not
progressing on well
3. It can lead to shifting of blames in case ones’ suggestion does not work
4. Because of its flexibility in changing in regulations, the community members are likely to
slip off or go against the objectives of the organization
Documentation decisions
During participatory, monitoring exercises, the decisions made need to be documented
(i) Participatory monitoring matrix; a general report can be written which now
summarizes the lessons learnt on the ongoing activities.
Challenges in monitoring participatory impact
1. There is minimum involvement of stakeholders
2. Time consuming
3. Limited knowledge and skills
4. Varied social, economic status and structure of stakeholders

TOPIC VIII. PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION

To evaluate is to assess or find out a form of an idea or value of something.
Participatory evaluation involves helping those who are involved in different kinds of
development programmes to assess the value of what they have or what they don’t.
It involves judging the worth or appraisal of value.
Evaluation investigated the consequences of dynamic programmes that attempt to alter key
variables in people’s lives.
Participatory evaluation is the act of looking back in order to locate where one is, in relation to
where one wants to go, how far you are going and then estimate when you are likely to reach
your destiny.
The process of evaluation becomes participatory when each of the key stakeholders controls the
process and makes use of the information derived from the evaluation outcome for management
decision at the level of operation.
Advantages
1. There is involvement of the project participants in project identification, monitoring and
evaluation which is of great value since they have first hand experience with the project
and also have more relevant details and insight than any other outsider
2. Participatory evaluation seeks to build any existing potential and positive trends and also
drawing lessons for better position to make corrections where there are problems
3. If the project fails, the community members will not blame the change agents
Disadvantages
1. Decision making on how to bear up with challenges is slow since suggestions from the
community members and change agent must be considered
2. Poor record keeping and documentation of the project activities
3. Varied social, economic status and structures of the stakeholders may interfere with the
process
4. Sometimes stakeholders may have limited knowledge and skills (expertise) on the project
activities

Domain of evaluation
These refer to the broad objectives of evaluation. It covers all forms of evaluation
 1. The process of evaluation; the focus here is laid on implementation and methodologies to
determine the effectiveness and efficiency
2. Impact of evaluation; focus on long term goal of the project in terms of sustained changes
that have been experienced during implementation.
Purpose of participatory evaluation
1. To assess whether activities are planned as directed towards achievement of programme
objectives
2. To enable assessment of strength and weakness programme
3. To assess whether materials, man power, time and other resources are being used
effectively
4. To help in identification of discrepancies between action and planned implementation
and taking collective action
5. Aimed at improving the management of the programme by supporting information for
decision making
6. Motivate programme workers to review their efforts
7. Enhances accountability
Planning for a participatory evaluation
1. Clarify the programme/project objectives
2. Identify the indicators/measuring yard stick
3. Identify the potential audience in advance who will carry your exercise with internal or
external
Tools for participatory evaluation
(i) Questionnaire interview
(ii) General observation
(iii) Review of documents
(iv) Focus group discussion
(v) Participatory observation
TOPIC IX. APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
These are ways in which the change agents try to bring change in the community.
There are two different approaches
1. Top-bottom approach or trickle down approach (directive)
2. Bottom up approach (non directional )
Top bottom approach
It is planned approach based on clearly laid down procedures. The change agent facilitates the
change; this is started by the outsider then trickled down to the community.
The outsider can represent an organization; he/she introduces new ideas to a given social system
to achieve the objectives of the organization e.g. family planning projects.
(Community members are not involved in the project from identification to implementation)
Characteristics of top bottom approach
1. Outsider identifies a project and plans for it at the top then he/she brings it down to the
community
2. It has clearly laid down procedures and steps to be followed
3. It is deliberate in nature
4. It is initiated by the nature
5. No local community resources used unless it is intergrated project
6. New technology is used

Advantages
1. The community resources remain intact
2. The completion of the project is done very first because the outside agencies does all that
is required
3. By coincidence, the project may address the needs of the community
Disadvantages of top-bottom approach
1. No sustainability of the project
2. The project may look meaningless to the community members since it may be against the
culture
3. Too much external influence leads to clash of influence
4. Promotes dependency from the community
 5. Encourages duplication of projects
Bottom up approach
In this approach the community members are involved in all stages of the project. The
community members are required to identify the project by themselves and the community
resources are used.
Community participation and leadership is also required; the maintenance of the project is
expected from the community.
Advantages
1. The project developer inquires from the community about the project that is relevant to
them.
2. There is no cultural interference since the community members come up with their own
projects (no project apathy)
3. The community needs are taken into consideration
4. High chance of project sustainability since the project is community choice
5. The community members manage the project themselves and if any change is required
for the officials they can easily do so.
6. It gives room for the community members to explore resources among themselves e.g.
human and material resources
7. It helps to avoid project duplication since the community members are aware of the
projects in their community
8. It reduces the cost of the project since some resources are locally available
9. There is room for replication of new projects since the community members have
experience from the initial projects
10. It reduces dependency for the community members’ hence encouraging self reliance.
11. It helps the community members to gain more knowledge and skills on how to work on
different projects
Disadvantages
1. The community requirement for the project of choice may be beyond the development
agency. That is, it may be too expensive for the development agency
2. Decision making is hard since the whole community has to decide on what project is
relevant to them
 3. Because of the community members choose what they want, they may choose a project
that does not fall under the objectives of the development agencies
4. There is over exploitation of the locally available resources
5. The project may take long before it is initiated or completed since the community
members’ participation and involvement is required
6. There may be lack of expertise among the community members causing the delay in the
completion of the community project
Impacts of development approaches on community development
 Encourages participation e.g. the indirect approaches
 There is ownership and sustainability because one focuses on the people’s needs

TOPIC X. DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES

These are organizations that stir up development in community; they are also resources which
enable members of a community to unite together to meet their needs.
There are two main types of development agencies
1. Locally based agencies
2. Outside based agencies
1. Locally based agencies
According to Kolb 1958, locally based agencies may be formal or informal.
Characteristics of informal groups
1. People gather for meeting
2. There are no chosen officials
3. The group is made to address problems of the community
4. Members have the same interest which they all seek to meet
5. They include firm, cooperatives, women groups and young clubs
Factors which lead to the formation of locally based organization in the community
 Influence from outside the community which stimulates the formation of groups e.g.
Agricultural extension services which encourage the promotion of farm groups
 Meetings which usually include educational, business, social and refreshment sessions
  Having honest and trustworthy officials
 Being a in a position to make tangible changes
 Outbreak of diseases e.g. malaria
Life cycle of locally based agencies
Locally based agencies have a fairly uniform life cycles made up of four periods
a) Stimulation
b) Rise period
c) Carrying on
d) Decline
Stimulation period
This is a period when people with single or several related interests are aroused by outside
agencies or by local influence to form some groups.
Rise period
This is a period when there is a frequent meeting at which important matters are discussed. A
committee of local official is chosen to draft out the constitution and to work out a plan of action.
Carrying on period
This is a period that group carries out its activities; it may take long and the group is faced by
many challenges. When new members are to be attracted at this period, ways are to be found on
how to meet their interest.
Decline period
This period comes soon or caters for some groups. The groups which stay longer are skillfully
handled (and trustworthy)
They also constantly make changes to meet the changing needs of the members.
Factors that make people join locally based organizations
Economic status
Family with high gross income who owns firms and automobile join farm clubs, cooperatives
and business groups.
Proximity to towns
Families close to towns who arte exposed to various media of information e.g. TV and radios
tend to join this groups more because they hear about their benefits more.
Level of education
Highly educated individuals tend to join the formal groups as compared to the illiterate people
because they can easily understand the benefits of activities that take place in such groups.
Age bracket
Some groups are informed by specific age brackets e.g. youth groups are mainly formed by the
youths.
Gender
Gender also influences the formation of some groups e.g. the formation of women groups
Outside Agencies
These are agencies based outside the community but with branches or representations in the
community.
They include government organizations, NGOs and the cooperative movement.
Characteristics of outside agencies
 They are based outside the community
 They can have representation or branches in many different communities
 They address many community problems in the field e.g. health, education, caring for the
needy, building of roads and schools and agriculture.
Conclusion
The presence of both outside and locally based organizations necessitates coordination of
activities of the organization to avoid duplication of services and sometimes confusions for the
members of the society. Where there are many development agencies in one community, the
community organizers may help them to form a larger organization to which these various
organizations especially where locally ones could be affiliated.
These large organizations could by community councils be changed through 6 functions
1. Coordination
2. Facts findings
3. Joint action (meeting together and discussion)
4. Improving quality of services of agencies
5. Providing common services
6. Developing public understanding
Challenges facing development agencies
TOPIC XI. EMERGING TRENDS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
(Tools that promote the new coming up projects)
Emerging trends in community development are new ways of how community development
projects are channeled in to the community
They include:
1. Government contribution on CDF, that is being used in community development
especially in learning activities, construction of roads and hospital
2. There is government plan for rural electrification though it is not very much evident in
some areas
3. The government’s effort to construct dams along rivers like Nyando, Ewaso Nyiro,
Nzoia, Yala among others to enable members to irrigate their crops during dry seasons
and also to store water fro consumption during drought
4. There are international agencies or investors who have initiated projects which have
provided employment to the community and reduced poverty and hunger to some extent
e.g. Dominion Agricultural Project
5. In most constituencies, the CDF has been used to pay school fees for unable students so
they get the technical know how/ knowledge on how community development should be
undertaken
6. The government is constructing roads which make it easy for development agencies to
penetrate the interior parts of the communities so as to implement the projects
7. There is plan to construct or put up a big hotel and a museum at the president of America
Barack Obama’s home and this will lead to community development at that particular
place.
8. The churches are coming up with projects that help to uplift the people’s living standards
e.g. Coptic church distributes services and skills, for living ministry also has a widen
project for tailoring
9. The president is opening up new districts and this will to development in the areas e.g.
there is construction of district hospitals, DCs offices and better infrastructures going on
10. They are also opening up new learning institutions which help to increase chances of
people joining colleges e.g. new MTCs, TTCs
11. Globalization has resulted to community development activities being carried out for a
way to be heard and to be seen as if they are near e.g. there are international NGOs which
have their head offices in other continents but they can easily access the activities going
on in different regions through internet
12. Globalization has also led to diffusion of cultural item form one group to another,
intervention programmes especially for the youths have been successful when we use the
dressing code they have adopted from the western countries (world)
13. Due to globalization there has been transfer of technology where we borrow material
technology e.g. in agriculture, organizations that promote community development
through agriculture have borrowed western machinery like harvesting machines,
irrigation system among others
14. Community development agencies have also adopted the use of computers to store their
information which was not done this way initially.
15. Globalization has also resulted into interdisciplinary involvement in community
development where each individual undertake his/her area of specialization and this has
lead to a lot of success
16. Due to globalization, most countries of the world use almost similar languages to
communicate