Perceived Effectiveness of Community-driven Development Approach of Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) in Oyo State, Nigeria

The failure of Top-down approach and Donor-driven development projects in Nigeria had necessitated a new approach that is community driven. This paper reports the perceived effectiveness of Community Driven Development CDD approach to Community and Social Development Projects CSDP execution in Oyo state. The multi stage sampling technique was used to sample 120 respondents out of which 101 respondents were available for interview. Data were collected through interview schedules and analyzed with the aid of frequency count, percentage, mean, Chi-square as well as Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Results showed that majority (68.3%) of the respondents were males, Christians (53.5%), Married (82.2%), with one form of education or the other (96.0%). Majority (71.3%) of the respondents had spent more than 10 years in the community. The extent of respondents’ involvement in CSDP was high (56.4%). The CDD was perceived to be highly effective for CSDP (52.5%). This implied that the CDD approach of CSDP was effective. The study revealed that there was no significant relationship between respondents’ age (χ2=5.891, p>0.05), sex (χ2=0.589, p>0.05), marital status (χ2=3.469, p>0.05), religion (χ2 =0.180, p>0.05), level of education(χ2 = 0.350, p>0.05), and effectiveness of CDD approach utilized for CSD project implementation. However, significant relationship existed between extent of involvement in CSDP (r=0.222,p=0.025) and effectiveness of the CDD approach of CSDP. It is therefore recommended that CSDP in Oyo state be scaled up and the CDD approach be adopted for rural development. Keywords: Top-down approach, CDD approach, CSD