Analysis of Community Participation in Development Projects: The Case of Wardak Province, Afghanistan

Community participation has been a vital factor for the success and sustainability of development programmes. Community participation is sine qua non for developmental projects. Therefore, this research was conducted to assess the level of community participation in developmental projects, identify promoting factors of participation, and determine the affecting factor of community participation in Wardak, Afghanistan. Data were collected from 400 people by using face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions in the targeted area. For data collection, the multi- stage sampling method was applied. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods such as tabulations, graphs, arithmetic mean, and ratio. The study found out that the level of community participation was low in the case of Saydabad and Nirkh districts while it was moderate in the case of Markazi Behsud district. In addition, the study identified that financial benefits, material incentives, gaining new skills, serving the community, previous experience, interest for development, and receiving prestige were the promoting factors of people’s participation. Several factors influenced community participation such as security challenges, lack of awareness, sex, income, cultural factors, low capacity of community development councils (CDCs) members, high illiteracy rate of beneficiaries, and local leaders’ interferences. The study recommends that the government and implementing NGOs create public awareness regarding developmental projects and provideconsistent training for beneficiaries. Furthermore, the implementing agencies should cut off the interferences of local leaders and give chance to all strata of the communities.