community development
Introduction
Nothing
just happens on it’s own, there is always something responsible for it. My
community in the last fifty years can not be compared with the present
community, simply because development has taken place. And somethings are
responsible for this development, they are what we are about to look into now,
which is termed agents of community development in my community adazi-enu.
Before discussing the agents of development, we will first of all look into the
following: development, community and community development. The knowledge of
the above mentioned will help us understand wee the agents of community
development.
Development
Development according to Osuji is viewed
as a dynamic, integrated and multicultural process of change which involves
economic, political, social, cultural and ethnical factors. Development occurs
when people collectively pool available resources and join hands togother to
achieve better life for all citizens.[1]
On
the other hand, “development”, according to Ralph Chiaka, “is an integral
process embodying both economic and social objectiveness.”[2]
Development is characterized by the
following:
I.
It is
measurable
II.
It is
goal oriented
III.
It is
achievable
IV.
It can
be evaluated as it progresses
The community
The community is
viewed in a common sense in terms of a population of people who live within a
specific legal area to which they can lay claim. The groups of people have
contact and socialize with one another; they do communicate and share many
things in common. In this categories are towns, cities and countries.[3]
Thus, a community can be a single family, a
political party, an ethnic group, a Christian assembly, and so on. ”[4]
Community Development
A united nations defines community
development as the process by which the effort of the people themselves are
united with those of the government authorities to improve the economic, social
and cultural conditions of communities to integrate these communities into the
life of a nation and enable them to contribute fully to national progress.[5]
Community development brings a sense of
patriotism, citizenship and a spirit of civic and environmental consciousness
in the people.
” Therefore, the United Nations definition
of community development implies the participation of both the community and
the government.[6]
Hillman has however defined community
development as the method of helping local
Communities
to become aware of their resources in such a way as to satisfy some of their
needs and in so doing, acquire the attitudes, experiences, and cooperative
skills for repeating this process using their own initiatives.[7]
Scope
of Community Development
Community
development covers such areas as education, agriculture, health, economy,
personal development of members of the community, youth development, women
empowerment etc.
Agents
Of Development In Adazi Enu Community
The youths as agent of development in Adazi
Enu provide the community with labor force, which is very essential for any
development. The community heavily depends on the youth during festive periods
for entertainment like masquerade, cultural dance, wrestling etc. and these
activities attract people from far and wide. 31st December of every
year, Adazi community is filled with people all as a result of the activities
of the youth. The youth also help in providing security as any criminal caught
have to be disciplined by the youth and other crimes like witches and wizards.
Agriculture
Agriculture is a means of
livelihood for many in adazi enu, it extends beyond the individuals but the
community as a whole. Many people in my community own lands and this lands they
use mainly for agriculture, and this becomes the primary source of their
income, with the money they get from there they use it to pay the childrens
school fees, carter for their needs and invest the rest. Agriculture also
brings people from far and wide to my community, people from northern Nigeria
and some part of east comes to my community to buy agricultural product like
palm oil, etc
Market
The
market brings about development as people from other towns and villages comes to
the market to either buy, sell or provide services, this thereby provides a means
of livelihood to both the poeople of adazi enu and the neighboring towns, and
as the markets grow and develop the town also develop with it.
Market Association: market
association which include trade unions, cooperative societies etc, the
cooperative societies comes together and buys things in bulk and this helps
them to sale at cheaper price which will turn bring more buyers to the market,
also leading to the growth of the market, through the market authorities, appeal
can be made to the government or the local government for one thing or the
other.
Politicians
The
activities of the politician during their campaign activities contributes as
most of them tries to buy the people’s support by giving out handsome amount of
money to individuals and groups and also doing one or two things for the
community. They also make allot of promises to the community which they atleast
end up doing 5% of it. The community benefits from them.
Some
rich men in town aspire for for some rare title, like the onwa na etiri ora,
which means the moon that shines for all, or mmiri na ezoro ara , which means
the rain that falls for all, or ozu ora, which means the person that caters for
all, these title brings great respect and dignity to any one that has it, the
respect goes beyond him alone, but extends to his family and his generation.
These title requires the endorsement of
the people and the local leader, which has a prerequisite of taking care of the
poor, the people and contributing to the growth of the community. In view of
this, some of the rich men in view of getting this title builds single handedly
a church for the community or town hall, or hospital, or tarred roads, or renovate
the markets, some even go to the extent of paying the nepa bills of the whole
community for a whole year, some gives scholarship to citizens, some build
schools, some help citizens to secure admission into the university etc.
Age grade
The
age grades yearly take up one project or the other and do it for the community,
they take up projects like buying bus and guns for the security men, giving a
handsome amount of money to the church or community to complete a project,
buiding hall for the community, buying and distributing fertilizers to members
of the community, building house for those who have no shelter etc.
Local government
The local government being the nearest
government to the people of adazi enu, comes to the aid of the people when in
need, ;like taking the complaints of the people to the state government,
providing employment to citizens, building
roads, giving compensation in case of fire accidents, etc.
State government
The past regime in the state government
contributed allot in adazi anu community, it built and equipped the school library
and laboratory (physics, chemistry, and biology, introductory technology
computer rooms etc), it also built allot of roads both in known and hiding
places which made the place open and known, it gave scholarship to many of my
community members, it give financial support to many company and enterprises in
the community.
The church
Most
if not all the church in my place runs school, sell sacramentaries, hold
programmes like wedding, funeral etc. these brings about development. The
structure of the church in my community
makes it almost like a tourist center.
Vocational
institutes
Vocational institute trains the youth and make
them useful, like training them in sewing, music, catering services, computer
science etc this makes the youth to be self employed after the program and the
community benefits from it.
Community Participation:
Meetings are held every year by groups,
societies,individual and finally by the community as a whole, the sole aim of
the meetings is to evaluate the community in terms of development activities in
the past year and to identify there felt need and how
to see to it. The active participation of the members of the community brings
about a big development in my community. My community was the first to have
electricity in my place as a result of community participation. Etc
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abiona
Adekeye, principles and practice of
community development,Ibadan University press.
Bwala, m.h. and
aminu, a. (1996). “community development
and rural transformation in nigeria.” Educational
Forum. A journal of educational studies; vol. 2, no. 2.
C. N. Anyanwu, Introduction
to Community Development (Ibadan: Gabesther Educational Publishers, 1999).
Hillman, A. Community Organisational Planning.
New York: Macmillan (1960).
Kumar, A. Principles and Practice of Adult
Education and Community Development. In Anyanwu, C.N.
(ed). Ibadan.
Abprint Publishing Company Limited (1981).
Ralph C. Chiaka, Development
Aid to the Third World (Ibadan: Shaneson C.I Ltd., 1989).
United Nations: Report of the Conference on National
Development, by an Adhoc Group of Experts
appointed by the
Secretary General of the U.N. New York (1963).
[1] Abiona Adekeye, principles
and practice of community development[9],Ibadan University press
[2] Ralph C. Chiaka, Development Aid to the Third World (Ibadan:
Shaneson C.I Ltd., 1989), p.1-2.
[3] Abiona Adekeye, principles
and practice of community development[2],Ibadan University press
[4] C.
N. Anyanwu, Introduction to Community
Development (Ibadan: Gabesther Educational Publishers, 1999), p.1.
[5] Abiona Adekeye, principles
and practice of community development[10],Ibadan University press
[6] United
Nations: Report of the Conference on
National Development, by an Adhoc Group of Experts
appointed by the
Secretary General of the U.N. New York (1963).
[7]
Hillman, A. Community Organisational
Planning. New York: Macmillan (1960).
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