COMMUNITY DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM: A NEW STRATEGY

Abstract

Governments and the World Bank have very few tools to reach large numbers of the poor directly, particularly in the context of weak or fragile states, in post-conflict and post disaster environments, or in areas with poor track records of service delivery within the bureaucracy. Community driven development (CDD) potentially constitutes an important approach in the repertoire of development interventions because it is designed to place less stress on government line agencies by optimizing the use of community actors, yet at the same time reach very large numbers of poor people. Determining whether this approach is worth supporting requires rigorous evaluation to assess CDD’s effectiveness in various settings. And if it does work, how can we strengthen its ability to deliver results as a second generation of CDD programs begins to emerge? This study aims to explore these issues. Social services provisioning are failing poor urban and rural people in the developing world, and poverty remains concentrated in rural areas and urban slums. This state of affairs prevails despite prolonged efforts by many governments to improve rural and urban services and development programs. This paper focuses on how local governments in Nigeria can be empowered to contribute to their own development and, in the process, improve infrastructure, governance, services, and economic and social development, that is, ultimately, the broad range of activities for sustainable poverty reduction. Central to thesis is that local governments within a clearly defined decentralized framework that devolves real power and resources to local governments and communities will do better. The paper concludes by positing that capacity support, technical institutions and nongovernmental institutions are key to Local Government support which is central to Community Driven Development.