Community Participation and Sustainability Issue: An Evaluation of a Donor-Driven Water Sector in Ikaram Millennium Village Project, Nigeria

摘要

This study examines the extent to which community participation influences community ownership of water project and its sustainability in Ikaram Millennium Village (MV). Structured close-ended questionnaire and semi-structure open-ended interview checklist were used to elicit information from respondents including households, key informants, MV officials, Water and Sanitation (WASH) Committee members and staff of Ondo State Multilateral Agency that oversaw the project. From the projected population of 22,863, the household size in the cluster was estimated to be 3266 households using national average family size of 7. Thereafter, 5% of the total number of households in Ikaram MV was chosen, amounting to 163. The household survey was administered using simple random sampling technique. Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were also conducted. The study established that due to low economic base of the MV, low financial and local materials were contributed towards the water project development. It was found that 84.2% of the population in the MV was willing to contribute less than 1000 for the maintenance of the various water facilities. It was further observed during the FGD, that the different types of existing community institutions were not fully consulted. The findings estabilished that two persons in each community were trained to handle construction of water and sanitary facilities while the other two received training on the repair and maintenance of these facilities. The result also indicated that repair works were usually handled by the Water Committee while fund for the payment of the repair services was obtained from the pool of money contributed by the community members. By implication, financial incapability of the community members will to a large extent affect the maintenance of the water source points and by extension inhibits the sustainability of the water and sanitation projects.