Community Participation As a Determinant of Project Sustainbility Beyond Donor Support. The Case of Zambia

Book excerpt: Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 3.0, University of Lusaka, language: English, abstract: The following work examines the effects of community participation as a determinant of project sustainability using the example of Zambia. Sustainability forms the basis for any developmental activity, without it all the efforts engaged in the project become a share waste of time and resources. It is a mystical theory to believe that affected communities are shocked and helpless to take responsibilities for their own survival and that their only hope is dependent upon external support. On the contrary, communities do have power and strength to manage and sustain their own challenges in any given case as long as they are involved in such a move that is aimed at curbing the community problems. That said community participatory approach is the most important slant towards enabling communities to help themselves and sustain efforts made by multiple developmental agencies. This study was aimed at investigating Community participation and its attributes as a determinant of project sustainability beyond donor support. The study was triggered by the eminent failure rates of many projects implemented in that collapse immediately the donor pulls out their support. The researcher applied and elucidated on different philosophical standpoints within this thesis in terms of ontology, epistemology and axiology were objectivism and positivism underpinnings were established. The researcher then used explanatory study design on the DFID Community Led Total Sanitation supported project in 29 districts of Zambia. Stratified and random sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 128 respondents. Furthermore, the researcher used questionnaires to collect data and it was analyzed quantitatively using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and results were summarized and presented using table and charts. The findings of the study showed that an increase in community participation has a greater impact on the increased project sustainability beyond donor support. Hence Community participation is critical determinant of project sustainability beyond donor support. It is imperative to take cognizant of the fact that communities today should no longer be seen as recipients of development programmes; rather, they have become critical stakeholders that have an important role to play in the management of programmes and projects in their areas.