Measuring Improvement in Quality of Life in Community-Based Development Projects in Nigeria

The lingering problem of poverty prompted many countries to adopt community-based strategies for improving Quality of Life (QoL) of poor communities. Numerous studies have focused on identifying but ignored to establish the contribution of the factors that influence improvement in QoL by community-based projects. This paper measures, using Structural Equation Modelling, the contribution of the factors that influence QoL in a Community-based Poverty Reduction Project (CPRP) in Nigeria. The model revealed that the measured factors contributed only 36% of the reduction in poverty, which implies that there are other “hidden” factors responsible for the improvement in the quality of life.Keywords: Quality of Life, Community-based Projects, Poverty Reduction, Structural Equation ModellingeISSN 2398-4279 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.21834/ajqol.v3i11.124

Sustainability assessment of community-based poverty reduction projects (CPRP) in Nigeria

Community-based development projects have become an important mechanism for channeling development assistance that involves beneficiaries in the design, implementation, and management of community development projects towards improving their living standards. Many evaluation studies have reported improvements and successes with the adoption of the community-based development strategy. However, it has been contended that most community-based development projects have sustainability problems after the withdrawal of the funding agencies. This article focuses on assessing the sustainability of a Community-based Poverty Reduction Project (CPRP) in Kebbi state, Nigeria using a framework of monitoring indicators to measure various dimensions of sustainability of the project The findings of the study revealed that while the initiative has recorded huge successes regarding project outputs during the funding period, the project’s outcomes could not be sustained after the withdrawal of the funding agency. Most of the outputs have problems in different dimensions of sustainability. The authors argue that although many factors contribute to the lack of project sustainability, a key factor is careful planning and implementation. The authors recommend that the design and implementation of the CPRP should focus on economic, community and environmental aspects of sustainability