Factors Affecting Women Participation in Rural Development Projects (Case in Ekiti State, Nigeria)

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1 Factors Affecting Women Participation in Rural Development Projects (Case in Ekiti State, Nigeria) Gbenga Gabriel Akinyemi 1 & James Olaniyi Okunlola 2 1 Dr. Gbenga Gabriel Akinyemi & 2 Dr. James Olaniyi Okunlola Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria Abstract: Participation of women in rural development projects has always been a major concern to many Nigerians. Women involvement in rural development projects is expected to sustain development projects in the rural areas. The study was carried out to identify the factors affecting women participation in rural development projects in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A well-structured interview schedule and participatory techniques such as key informant technique and Focus Group Discussion were used to collect data from the 160 respondents randomly selected from four local government areas out of the sixteen local government areas (LGAs) in Ekiti State. The results were analysed using frequency, percentage and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The study revealed that benefit of the projects to the community, commitment to community projects, interest towards development projects, occupation, awareness towards the project, motivation from the friends/ colleagues, spouse influence/ cooperation, level of exposure and group member s advice on project participation were the factors influencing women participation in rural development projects. Despite the participation of women in development projects, they were constrained with poor financial status and non-priority nature of projects. Community members contributed counterpart funds to support the projects. From the study, level of education has significant relationship with level of participation in development projects. Women participation in all the levels of participation should be encouraged to ensure sustainability. Keywords: Women Participation, Rural Development Projects, Factors Affecting Women, Contributed..com. Publication date, 21 February

2 1. INTRODUCTION Rural urban drift poses serious challenges to the third world countries as only very few governments have the resources and facilities to cope with such rapidly growing population (Otto and Ukpere 2014). The major cause of the high migration to the urban areas is the neglect of rural areas, in spite of the fact that over 65 per cent of Nigerians are rural dwellers. The rural areas are generally characterized by high level of illiteracy, abject poverty, unemployment and lack of other basic infrastructural facilities including housing, electricity and inadequate communication facilities. The standard of living in rural areas is generally low, this has partly informed the drift to urban areas where basic facilities are relatively more available and standards of living are higher (Otto and Ukpere 2014). In Nigeria today, many rural infrastructural projects have been embarked on in the rural areas such as building of markets, health center, construction of boreholes and construction of roads in order to develop the areas and encourage rural activities. Women participation in rural development projects have been one of the major concerns, despite government intervention to reduce poverty and problem facing farmers and the people living in the rural areas. There is an obvious disparity between men and women in the aspects of education, health, employment, legal matters, leadership, acquiring power and ownership of resources; consequently, women are generally unable to participate fully in the development process. Thus, larger percentage of women are poor, illiterate, deprived of adequate healthcare, victims of violence, deprived of basic rights, discriminated against and suffer other forms of inequality as though their status is below that of men and their situation is far worse than the men. Nevertheless, there are still more initiatives that need to be taken to ensure that women are placed in their rightful position and strategies that need to be formulated to ensure that women are able to contribute fully to the development process (World Bank Report, 2009 cited in Mbogori 2014). The efficient use of rural women for development projects side by side with men is an important means of achieving improvement in several aspects of rural life. Most planners of rural development policy believe erroneously that rural workers are mostly men (Aazami et al. 2011), however, in recent decades, social scientists focus on the importance of individual, economic, and social factors affecting women's life directly or indirectly, to provide an environment for the promotion of their participation in rural development process (World Bank, 2003). Rural development is a means of bringing about enduring changes in the structure of the rural sector in a manner that productivity and output are increased, the technology and techniques of production are radically revolutionized with enhanced standard of living (Nkorn, 2000 cited in Otto and Ukpere 2014). Rural Development Project focus on the design of sustainable rural development programs, to include the promotion of non-farm rural activities through the strengthening of local governments and institutions, developing selective infrastructure investments and focusing on education. To have full participation of rural dwellers in rural development projects, the new approach to community development, have been evolved and one of this is the Participatory Approach, Participatory Approach in Community Development is a strategies that involves the stakeholder from project conception to design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in order to inculcate principle of ownership and sustainability (Okunlola 2017). Despite the new approach, it is important women participation needs to be determined in order to know the progress and achievement brought to the community through the rural development projects. In view of these, the following research questions were addressed; what are the socio-economic characteristics of the women in the study area?, to what extent are women involved in the rural development projects?, what are the factors influencing women participation in rural development projects? what are the constraints to women participation in the development projects in the study area?.com. Publication date, 21 February

3 1.1 Objectives of the study The general objective of the study was to identify the factors affecting women participation in rural development projects in Ekiti State. The specific objectives were to: a. ascertain the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area; b. determine the level of women participation in rural development projects; c. examine the factors influencing women participation in the rural development projects in the study area; d. identify the constraints to women participation in development projects in the study area. 2. METHODOLOGY A Multistage sampling procedure was used in the selection of respondents for the study. Random sampling technique was used in selecting four local government areas out of the sixteen local government areas (LGAs) in Ekiti State. The LGAs are: Ekiti East, Ekiti Southwest, Ikole and Ido Osi Local Government. The second stage involved random selection of four rural communities from each of the Local Government Areas making a total of sixteen communities. The communities are: Kehinde, Sunday, Giwa and Paul communities in Ekiti East Local Government Area; Fatula, Odo ugo, Gbodigbodi and Orisunmibare communities in Ikole Local Government Area; Ifisin, Aaye, Igbole and Ora communities in Ido Osi Local Government Area; and Osun, Alawaye, Ogotun and Ilupeju communities in Ekiti southwest Local Government Area. The third stage involved random selection of ten women from each community making a total of 40 respondents per Local Government Area. Therefore, a total of 160 respondents constituted the sample size for the study. Both Primary data and Secondary source were used for this study. The primary data was obtained with the aid of pre-tested and validated interview schedule. Focus Group Discussion was also carried out to further obtain information from the respondents. The Secondary source were obtained from journals, textbooks, reports and other relevant published materials including the internet. A test-retest method was also used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, means and inferential statistics such as Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) analysis was carried out. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Socio-economic Characteristics of the Respondents Table 1 revealed the age distribution of the respondents. About 36% of the respondents were within the age of 31-40, 22.5% were within the age group of 41-50, 20.0% were within the age of 21-30, while 1.3% were within the age group of The mean age of the respondents was 40 years. This result indicated that most of the women participating in rural development projects were relatively young, active, matured and physically capable of performing rigorous operations involved in development projects. Findings show that majority of the respondents (75.6%) were married, 11.3% were single, 11.2% were widowed while 1.9% of the respondents were divorced. Both the married and unmarried participate in rural development project irrespective of their status whether young or old, but the married constituted the largest population that participates in rural development projects. The implication of the result was that married people possess the sense of being responsible, they tend to participate actively in rural development projects to develop their communities in order to have better standard of living. Table 1 revealed that 36.3% of the respondents completed secondary school, 21.3% completed primary school only 15.0% had no formal education, 7.5% completed tertiary education while 1.8% had adult education. The respondents level of education, had great impact on their performance during projects planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and also influence their participation in development projects likewise projects sustainability. Fhika.com. Publication date, 21 February

4 (2015) supported that the more educated the people are, the more they tend to participate in community development projects with more of them gainfully employed and have more disposable income to make a financial contribution to community development projects. Results in Table 1 showed that 56.3% of the women belong to social group. The social group provides motivation to participate in development projects; serving as medium of information dissemination; information about development project can easily be passed across through various social groups. According to Adeleke and Ashimolowo (2015), group membership helps members to become better informed about the world and about new technologies and groups may serve as a stepping stone to some higher gains or status and serious involvement in the group activities made them contribute meaningfully to community development projects. Table 1: Socio-economic Characteristics of the respondents Frequency Percentage (%) Age (years) years Marital Status Single Married Widowed Divorced Level of Education No Formal Education Adult Education Attempted Primary School Completed Primary School Attempted Secondary School Completed Secondary School Attempted Tertiary Education Completed Tertiary Education Membership of social group Yes No Source: Field survey.com. Publication date, 21 February

5 3.2 Sources of Information on Rural Development Projects Table 2 showed that 50.0% of the women got their information through extension agent and radio broadcast, 44.4% of the women indicated family members as their source of information, 36.3% indicated friend, 22.5% of the women had social group (women s group, religious organization and cooperative society) as their source of information while 1.9% indicated newspaper as their source of information. This implies that extension agent and radio broadcast are the major sources of information to the rural women. 3.3 Level of women participation in rural development projects The level of women participation in building of market, building of women centre project, building of community hall, building/renovation of palace and building/renovation of schools shows high level of participation during project initiation, project planning, project implementation, project monitoring and project evaluation. This could be attributed to the fact that the projects were the felt needs of the communities. According to Okunlola and Adesida (2015), they asserted that participation in development projects were based on the felt needs of the communities as members contributed counterpart funds and in some instances provided the required labour and materials utilized for the projects. Table 3 has shown that the women participated fully in the project initiation ( ), project planning ( ), project implementation ( ), project monitoring ( ) and project evaluation ( ), in building of market and in building of women centre project, women participated fully in project initiation ( ), project planning ( ), project implementation ( ), project monitoring ( ) and project evaluation ( ) likewise in building of community hall, building/renovation of palace and building/renovation of schools. However, there were low levels of women participation in some rural development projects like construction of roads/bridges, rural electrification project, street light installation project and water treatment plant. The low level of women participation in rural development projects was due to technicalities required for construction/building of the projects as machine was required to carry out the project work with the help of expert which is not within the range of the women. 3.4 Factors influencing women participation in rural development projects Results in Table 4 showed the factors influencing women participation in rural development projects in the study area. It was revealed that benefit of the projects to the community ( ), commitment to community projects ( ), interest towards development projects ( ), occupation ( ), awareness towards the projects ( ), motivation from the friends/colleagues ( ), spouse influence/cooperation ( ), level of exposure ( ) and group members advice on project participation ( ) are the factors that influenced women participation in rural development projects. During the focus group discussion (FGD), it was revealed that group members advice themselves to participate in development projects in order to reduce the daily challenges encountered especially in the area of getting portable water, health care service and proper education for the children. Likewise, husbands support their wives to participate in developing their immediate areas since they are not marginalized. It was also deduced that level of exposure influenced women participation in rural development projects as a result of their training and past involvements in development projects. A cosmopolitan woman participate well when it comes to development projects because of her exposure but those with low exposure, may not see much reason for participation..com. Publication date, 21 February

6 3.5 Constraints to women participation in development projects The major constraint to women participation in development projects are; poor financial status ( ) which was ranked first and non-priority nature of projects ( ), ranked second as stated in table 5. This could be attributed to the contributions attached. Women are mobilized to contribute to counterpart fund or spend time with project as labour if it involves construction work and this could affect the time for their primary occupation. According to Fhika (2015), poverty is a contributing factor to the lack of participation in community development projects. Those community members, who are not gainfully employed, do not have the income to support their families and simultaneously contribute to development projects. Non-priority nature of projects as a constraint to women participation could be attributed to the fact that women may feel that their benefit from the project is low and therefore, not interested. In some situation where projects are being carried out and the women view such as a non-priority project, their interest wanes. Table 2: Sources of Information on rural development projects Source of information Frequency Percentage (%) Friends Family members Extension Agent Radio Television Newspaper Social group (religious organisation, cooperative society) Source: Field survey.com. Publication date, 21 February

7 High (3) Moderate (2) Low (1) High (3) Moderate (2) Low (1) High (3) Moderate (2) Low (1) High (3) Moderate (2) Low (1) High (3) Moderate (2) Low (1) Table 3: Level of women participation in rural development projects Project Initiation Project Planning Project Implementation Project Monitoring Project Evaluation Development projects Building of Health Centre (5.1) (62.0) (32.9) 1.72 (5.1) (65.8) (29.1) 1.76 (7.6) (63.3) (29.1) 1.78 (15.2) (57.0) (27.8) 1.87 (13.8) (28.1) (7.5) 1.87 Construction of roads/bridges (39.6) (0.0) (60.4) 1.79 (22.6) (17.0) (60.4) 1.62 (22.6) (17.0) (60.4) 1.62 (22.6) (17.0) (60.4) 1.62 (3.7) (5.6) (20.0) 1.62 Building of schools (7.0) (89.0) (4.0) 2.03* (6.0) (92.0) (2.0) 2.04* (14.0) (77.0) (9.0) 2.05* (11.0) (87.0) (2.0) 2.09* (5.6) (53.8) (3.1) 2.04* Construction of borehole (19.2) (66.7) (14.1) 2.05* (0.0) (90.9) (9.1) 1.91 (5.1) (84.8) (10.1) 1.95 (5.1) (85.9) (9.1) 1.96 (30.3) (59.6) (10.1) 2.20* Building of ICT centre (12.5) (25.0) (62.5) 1.50 (12.5) (25.0) (62.5) 1.50 (12.5) (25.0) (62.5) 1.50 (12.5) (25.0) (62.5) 1.50 (0.6) (1.3) (3.1) 1.50 Construction of Police Station (25.0) (0.0) (75.0) 1.50 (0.0) (25.0) (75.0) 1.25 (0.0) (25.0) (75.0) 1.25 (0.0) (0.0) (100) 1.00 (0.0) (0.0) (2.5) 1.00 Building of market (95.7) (4.3) (0.0) 2.96* (95.7) (4.3) (0.0) 2.96* (93.5) (4.3) (2.2) 2.91* (91.3) (6.5) (2.2) 2.89* (26.3) (1.3) (1.3) 2.87* Erosion control project (0.0) (6.9) (93.1) 1.07 (0.0) (6.9) (93.1) 1.07 (6.9) (6.9) (86.2) 1.21 (6.9) (6.9) (86.2) 1.21 (16.3) (0.6) (16.3) 1.17 Rural electrification (2.3) (2.3) (95.3) 1.07 (2.3) (2.3) (95.3) 1.07 (2.3) (2.3) (95.3) 1.07 (2.3) (2.3) (95.3) 1.07 (0.6) (0.6) (25.6) 1.07 Building of community Hall (57.5) (40.0) (2.5) 2.55* (57.5) (40.0) (2.5) 2.55* (55.0) (42.5) (2.5) 2.53* (52.5) (42.5) (5.0) 2.48* (13.8) (10.6) (0.6) 2.53* Transformer installation Project (2.7) (2.7) (94.6) 1.08 (0.0) (5.4) (94.6) 1.05 (0.0) (5.4) (94.6) 1.05 (0.0) (5.4) (94.6) 1.05 (0.0) (1.3) (21.9) 1.05 Street light installation project (0.0) (53.8) (46.2) 1.54 (0.0) (53.8) (46.2) 1.54 (3.8) (50.0) (46.2) 1.58 (3.8) (46.2) (50.0) 1.54 (0.0) (7.5) (8.8) 1.46 Building of Women Center (63.6) (36.4) (0.0) 2.64* (63.6) (36.4) (0.0) 2.64* (54.5) (45.5) (0.0) 2.55* (54.5) (45.5) (0.0) 2.55* (4.4) (2.5) (0.0) 2.64* Building of Civic Centre (12.5) (87.5) (0.0) 2.13* (0.0) (93.8) (6.3) 1.94 (18.8) (81.3) (0.0) 2.19* (0.0) (100) (0.0) 2.00* (0.0) (10.0) (0.0) 2.00* Construction of Water Treatment Plant (12.0) (52.0) (36.0) 1.76 (0.0) (60.0) (40.0) 1.60 (0.0) (56.0) (44.0) 1.56 (8.0) (56.0) (36.0) 1.72 (1.3) (8.8) (5.7) 1.72 Renovation of schools (42.7) (51.2) (6.1) 2.37* (28.0) (65.9) (6.1) 2.22* (45.1) (53.7) (1.2) 2.44* (34.1) (64.6) (1.2) 2.33* (19.4) (30.0) (1.9) 2.34* Building/Renovation of Palace (57.9) (31.6) (10.5) 2.47* (68.4) (21.1) (10.5) 2.58* (63.2) (31.6) (5.3) 2.58* (57.9) (36.8) (5.3) 2.53* (6.9) (4.4) (0.6) 2.53* Building of motor parks (0.0) (66.7) (33.3) 1.67 (0.0) (66.7) (33.3) 1.67 (0.0) (66.7) (33.3) 1.67 (0.0) (0.0) (100) 1.00 (0.0) (1.3) (0.6) 1.67 Building of training/skill acquisition centres (7.7) (30.8) (61.5) 1.46 (15.4) (30.8) (53.8) 1.62 (7.7) (30.8) (61.5) 1.46 (7.7) (38.5) (53.8) 1.54 (0.6) (2.5) (5.0) 1.46 Source: Field survey, figure in parentheses represent percentage.com. Publication date, 21 February

8 Strongly agree (4) Agree (3) Disagree (2) Strongly disagree (1) Table 4: Factors influencing women participation in rural development projects Factors Rank Marital status 16 (10.0) 10 (6.3) 29 (18.1) 105(65.6) th Level of education 22 (13.7) 10 (6.3) 20 (12.5) 108(67.5) th Occupation 100 (62.5) 46 (28.8) 6 (3.7) 8 (5.0) 3.49* 4th Membership of social group 13 (8.1) 19 (11.9) 28 (17.5) 100(62.5) th Cultural factors 16 (10.0) 16 (10.0) 23 (14.4) 105(65.6) th Interest towards development 110 projects (68.8) 35 (21.9) 7 (4.4) 8 (5.0) 3.54* 3rd Commitment to community 107 projects (66.9) 47 (29.4) 5 (3.1) 1 (0.6) 3.63* 2nd Motivation from the friends/ colleagues 70 (43.8) 56 (35.0) 14 (8.8) 20 (12.5) 3.10* 6th Group member s advice on project participation 52 (32.5) 32 (20.0) 36 (22.5) 40 (25.0) 2.60* 9th Religious factor 10 (6.3) 21 (13.1) 12 (7.5) 117(73.1) th Domestic responsibilities 12 (7.5) 7 (4.4) 29 (18.1) 112(70.0) th Level of exposure 61 (38.1) 37 (23.1) 24 (15.0) 38 (23.8) 2.76* 8th Job security 28 (17.5) 9 (5.6) 69 (43.1) 54 (33.8) th Benefit of the projects to the 134 community (83.8) 15 (9.4) 11 (6.9) 0 (0.0) 3.77* 1st Income prospects 30 (18.8) 34 (21.3) 56 (35.0) 40 (25.0) th Employment opportunities 16 (10.0) 25 (15.6) 78 (48.8) 41 (25.6) th Women discrimination 7 (4.4) 6 (3.8) 31 (19.4) 116 (72.5) th Awareness towards the project 87 (54.4) 54 (33.8) 10 (6.3) 9 (5.6) 3.37* 5th Social Class 20(12.5) 28 (17.5) 70 (43.8) 42 (26.3) th Spouse influence/cooperation 51 (31.9) 50 (31.3) 32 (20.0) 27 (16.9) 2.78* 7th Lack of self confidence 2 (1.3) 10 (6.3) 34 (21.3) 114(71.3) st *Factors influencing women participation, Figure in parentheses represent percentage S.D. Standard Deviation Source: Field survey.com. Publication date, 20 February

9 Major Constraint (2) Minor Constraint (1) Not a Constraint (0) Table 5: Constraints to women participation in development projects Possible constraints Rank Bureaucratic nature of project design 11 (6.9) 45 (28.1) 104 (65.0) th Non-priority nature of projects 58 (36.3) 52 (32.5) 50 (31.3) 1.05* 2nd Lack of trust for women leaders 8 (5.0) 34(21.3) 118 (73.8) th Lack of adequate communication network before and during the project 18 (11.3) 51 (31.9) 91 (56.9) th Lack of interest 14 (8.8) 56 (35.0) 90 (56.3) th Low household size 8 (5.0) 69 (43.1) 83 (51.9) th Religious factor 9 (5.6) 12 (7.5) 139 (86.9) th Gender bias in project selection 15 (9.4) 19 (11.9) 126 (78.8) th Poor financial status of women 103 (64.4) 50 (31.3) 7 (4.4) 1.60* 1st Level of education 5 (3.1) 107 (66.9) 48 (30.0) rd Non-involvement of women in the leadership and project management 14 (8.8) 31 (19.4) 115 (71.9) th Low level of project awareness among women 12 (7.5) 21 (13.1) 127 (79.4) th Cultural limitations 3 (1.9) 10 (6.3) 147 (91.9) th Domestic responsibilities of women 8 (5.0) 14 (8.8) 138 (86.3) th Source: Field survey, figure in parentheses represent percentage, *Constraints to participation 3.6 Relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and level of participation in development projects Correlation results in Table 6 revealed that there is significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics such as level of education and women level of participation in development project. This implies that level of education could influence the participation of women in development projects. This indicates that women with high level of education have more opportunity to participate in projects initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation than women with low level of education. As educational level rises, the level of participation expects to upswing and rising in educational level could bring about progressive changes in the information, approach and aim of women in rural development project initiation. This finding is in line with Onuekwusi et al. (2012), they discovered that years spent in school was positively related to level of participation in rural development. Other socio-economic variables such as age and marital status has no significant relationship with women level of participation in development project. It implies that age, marital status, household size and monthly income does not influence women participation in the project cycle. The implication is that women of different age categories, marital status, household size and income could be involved at any stage of project..com. Publication date, 20 February

10 Table 6: Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) Relationship between socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and level of participation in development projects r value P value Decision Project initiation Age NS Marital Status NS Level of Education S Project planning Age NS Marital Status NS Level of Education S Project implementation Age NS Marital Status NS Level of Education S Project monitoring Age NS Marital Status NS Level of Education S Project evaluation Age NS Marital Status NS Level of Education S Source: Field survey, Significant at p<0.05 (S=Significant, NS=Not significant 4. CONCLUSION The study revealed the participation of rural women in development projects in Ekiti State as effective with most percentage of the women participants relatively young, active, matured and physically capable of performing rigorous operations involved in development projects. Married respondents participated more in rural development projects than unmarried counterparts and they form themselves into groups to contribute to the success of the projects as revealed in the study; however, poor financial status and non-priority nature of projects are major constraints to women participation in development projects in the study area. Women should be motivated and encouraged by development partners and other stakeholders to engage more in development projects especially projects with low participation such as construction of roads/bridges, police station and erosion control project among others. Government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), development partners and stakeholders must incorporate women, at all level of participation, in rural development projects to enhance sustainability of projects. Effort should be made using different information sources to create awareness and mobilize women to participate in development projects..com. Publication date, 20 February

11 5. REFERENCES Aazami, M., Homa, S. and Karim, N. M. (2011). Socio economic factors affecting rural WP in productive co operations: Case study of Paveh ballmaking cooperative. African Journal of Agricultural Research 6(14), Adeleke-Bello, O. O. and Ashimolowo, O.R (2015). Beneficiaries perception of selected rural women empowerment projects in Ogun State, Nigeria. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 10 (44): Fhika, J.R. (2015). Participation of Rural Community Members in Rural Development in Tanzania. PhD. Thesis, University of South Africa, pp Nkorn, A.A. (2000). Rural Development As a spring board for Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria. Port Harcourt: Zoomter Print Communications Ltd. No. 2/3, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Pp 605. Okunlola, J.O. (1999). Participatory Approaches in Research. Social Science Research: Approaches, Techniques and Reporting. Shann Books Nig. Ltd. Pp Okunlola, J.O. and Adesida, I.E. (2015). Effects of Community Participation on the Sustainability of Rural Infrastructure in Ondo State, Nigeria. Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology 7(1): 1-9. Otto, G. and Wilfred, I. U. (2014). Rural Development Projects in Nigeria: The case of Rivers State. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy. 5(3): 604. World Bank, (2003). Engendering Development through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources and Voice, Oxford University Press Washington, DC. Journal, Link Access; Copyright 2019 International Journal of, Inc..com. Publication date, 20 February