A community development project may be useless if it does not have a positive impact on the lives of the poor. It is generally known that unemployment has devastating effects on people's lives.
DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
A defined community development that is suitable for transition to the path answers the above questions. This means that community development must change the perception of the poor and their living conditions.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Description of the Participants
The researcher had a specific goal in mind and used her judgment to select cases that fit the purpose of the study. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate factors that contribute to the success of community development projects. The researcher enlisted the help of a field worker to obtain community projects that fit the purpose of the study.
The researcher used his in-depth knowledge and experience of working with rural areas to describe and select the type of projects that would fulfill the purpose of the study. The first session was used to familiarize the women and explain the purpose of the study. The interview used as a tool to collect data was appropriate to the characteristics of the participants.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
For example, most participants have a low level of education, which can contribute to misunderstanding questions. The interview setting allowed the researcher to read the questions and clarify any concepts or statements that seemed confusing to the participants. Additionally, the researcher could search for more information and select information relevant to the questions.
The interviews conducted offered less opportunity for .. anonymity as the researcher knew the respondents and their community projects. For example, one can assume that the level of education among the project members contributed to the ability of the leaders to lead the projects, delegate tasks properly and keep all the necessary records; thus, the other two projects could have failed due to low education levels of the participants. Generalization can only be made to community projects that operate within rural communities similar to Lotheni and possess characteristics similar to those of the participants of this study.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
The eighth part of the research results therefore concerns the effectiveness of the community development projects in alleviating poverty. In the last part of the presentation of the results, the monitoring and evaluation of poverty reduction projects is discussed. Poor people are vulnerable to exploitation by people with power and influence in the community (Harrisand Poulton.
According to them, paying contributions to members is important to motivate them to work hard and commit to the success of the project. These projects take into account, among other things, the willingness of members to work without expecting immediate payment. Attendance and active involvement in the group's activities were also considered very important.
SETTING OBJECTIVES
This problem was also noticed when the researcher attended a public meeting intended to plan for the establishment of community projects in one of the remote rural areas. The project collapsed when the chairman (Mr. Shabane) passed away and his wife told us there was no money in the bank«. In general, it is envisaged that with proper guidance and active involvement of the beneficiaries to set clear objectives, poverty alleviation projects can generate positive results.
The results show that more attention should be paid to formulating clear objectives that can serve as a map for project success. Objectives are very important because project members can look back and reflect on their progress by assessing the extent to which they have achieved their objectives. Project members can also identify areas that need adjustment to achieve the desired results in the project.
NATURE OF THE ACTIVITIES
It is worth noting that both community projects focused on the production of goods that satisfy the immediate needs of customers, i.e. hunger satisfaction. Members of the Qondisani project engaged in income generating activities such as; common garden (vegetables) poultry and pig farming. It is worth noting that members of the Qondisani project cultivate vegetables such as potatoes, onions and spinach, which they say sell very well.
Members of the Ntuthuko Yesizwe project are engaged in the following activities: home maintenance, poultry and block making. The results of this study support my experience as a community development worker that the type of vegetables grown by project members determines the success of the project. Project members are more dependent on government assistance instead of trying innovative and empowering ways to break out of the cycle of poverty.
LEADERSHIP
It has been observed that leaders who encourage project members to contribute to decision-making obtain cooperation and commitment from them. It has generally been noted that meeting note writing still seems to be a neglected part of administration for most community development projects. Minute books can be a good resource to assess the extent to which all project members are involved in decision making.
It was observed that despite the intention of revenue generation, all projects do not maintain sales, stock and quality control books. Project members Qondisani and Ntuthuko Yesizwe use the constitution as a guide to manage and control decision-making powers and project activities. Results 4 show that poor record keeping contributes to time, money and human capacity and ultimately to project collapse.
PROJECT SUSTAlNABILITY
It is therefore a challenge for all development actors to take poverty alleviation projects beyond survival to the profit making stage to make a real impact in changing the lives of the poor. The above table shows that despite the difficulties in selling products, Qondisani and Ntuthuko Yesizwe project members manage to earn a small income to support their. The projects must identify the needs of the community members in order to produce something that is in demand, which will also help the project members make a profit.
The members of the group believe that they can make money by producing and selling clothes in the community, as shops are difficult to access and sell expensive clothes. He meets the owner of a clothing factory who is willing to donate the ends of rolls of fabric that cannot be used in the factory's large cutting machines. At the end of the first year of operation, things settled down and the field worker felt that she could consider a job in another development agency.
CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING
The field worker also managed to sell to some people who visited her organization. The field worker is convinced that the business should be fully owned and controlled by group members. The case revealed the danger of doing things for the community rather than allowing them to take a leading role in facilitating their own development.
The fieldworker was convinced that if she withdrew from the sewing project, she would be able to continue on her own. The field worker should have encouraged the project members to learn to perform the tasks mentioned above in order to develop their ability to manage the project without seeking help from outsiders. The field worker must come and start where the community is and let the learning process take place instead of imposing his idea on the poor.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
For example, the next subsection demonstrates how involving project members in monitoring and evaluation can increase their capacity to manage their own development. Before attempting to answer the above questions, it is necessary to have an understanding of the main purpose of monitoring and evaluation. The question of who is involved and how in the monitoring and evaluation of poverty alleviation projects must be taken into account during the management of poverty alleviation projects.
Mtshali stresses that the beneficiaries or project members should be trained to understand the process of monitoring and evaluation so that they will appreciate the wider context and implications of their work. The focus of monitoring and evaluation should also be on how well the project contributes to mental, emotional, physical and Clear objectives linked to time frames within specified budget and responsibilities should be considered during the monitoring and evaluation phases.
DATA ANALYSIS
Project objectives are often included in the project constitution and business plan. Another key finding of the study in section 4.6 and table 4 shows that finding a well-formed market is one of the critical factors in determining the success of poverty alleviation projects. Gerber indicates that poor leadership is considered one of the main problems in the stagnation and also the decline of any organization.
One of the salient qualities of community development leaders is that they have a genuine interest in the poor because they have experienced the reality of being in poverty. Gerber emphasized that leadership is the main determinant of the success of any institution, whether it is large and well-established, or a small vendor on the street. Development that focuses on financial accountability has only a limited understanding of the negative impacts of poverty on the lives of the poor.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
- ESTABLISHMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT FORUMS
- TRAINING
- BASIC NEED APPROACH
The question that needs to be addressed is how many of these services reach the poorest of the poor living in rural areas. Photos can also be helpful in motivating project members, as critical events for the success of the project can be shown there. The training content should enhance the capacity of the poor by starting with the participant's information in terms of understanding project management and development issues.
When poverty alleviation projects fail, the poor may believe that they contributed to the collapse of the project, which may not be the true situation. The two successful community projects consisted of the poor people using their indigenous skills to create job opportunities for themselves. Probably the projects failed because leaders did not represent the interests of the poor and they unilaterally placed themselves in leadership positions.
In contrast, the other two projects did not study the needs of the community to match their products. It was obvious that poverty alleviation projects could only claim success if they managed to raise the incomes of the poor above the poverty line and strengthen their ability to plan and manage their own development.
