Assessment Of Youth Organization’s Participation In The Planning And Implementation Of Community Development Projects In Abia State, Nigeria

The main purpose of this study was to assess youth organizations’ participation in planning and implementation of community development projects in Abia State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were posed and formulated respectively to guide the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The related literature to the study was reviewed under four main headings namely: conceptual framework, theoretical framework, Review of related empirical studies and summary of literature review. This study used a descriptive survey research design.

A total of 500 registered youth members were used as sample size for the study. A 32 item questionnaire modeled on a four point rating scale was used to collect data for the study. Three experts  validated  the  instrument. The instrument was trial tested and the reliability coefficient using Cronbach’s Alpha were 0.83 for cluster A, 0.70 for cluster B, 0.87 for  cluster  C and 0.68 for cluster D with an overall reliability coefficient of .83 respectively. The Research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the  null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test. 

The results of the study revealed among others that the youth organizations to a great extent participate in the planning and implementation  of  community  development projects in Abia State. Poor leadership, inadequate fund raising, mismanagement   of funds, the leaders, low level of education of youths, lack of commitment  in project initiative by some youths, lack of empowerment by the community members and inadequate monitoring of projects for successful implementation are  the  factors that affect the participation of youth organizations in planning and implementation of community development projects in Abia State. The result also revealed that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of  male and female members of youth organizations on the extent youth organizations participate in the planning of community development projects in Abia State. The implications of the above findings were examined and it was recommended among other things that state government should strengthen the role of  youth  organizations using appropriate legislative provisions so that youth organizations would be seen as partners in sustainable community development and the overall progress of the society.