Critical examination of community participation in development projects

This research examined the role of community participation in development projects in Tanzania to gain a deeper understanding of its role in the development process and propose a good practice model towards attaining community participation in practice. The research focused on two case studies in Tanzania’s Lindi region: the International Oil Company (IOC) LNG JV project in Lindi Rural and Lindi Municipal Districts and the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) in Lindi Rural District. The objectives were: to critically review literature towards establishing trends and nexus between development and participation; to explore the nature of participation in the IOC LNG JV and the TASAF projects and the roles of select NGOs towards attaining participation on case study projects; to critically examine community understanding of participation; to analyse the community participation components of the Tanzanian Village Land Act of 1999. National Economic Policy of 2004, Tanzanian Vision 2025, Environmental Management Act 2004 and the Petroleum Act of 2015 and the corporate sustainability policy of the IOC LNG JV companies; and to propose a good practice model on community participation for social performance practitioners, government policy makers and development project investors towards attaining participation in social sustainability practice.
The study was carried out using a mixed method epistemological approach for data gathering and data analyses. The study used survey tools such as interviews, focus group discussions, key informant engagements and content analyses. In total, 536 persons were surveyed using quantitative surveys tools. 32 institutional and key informant engagements were also conducted for communities and government institutions.
The main findings from the research are: participatory policy development is essential to community participation and community participation enhance project buy-in and success. Consequently, this research recommends citizenship engagement and citizenship education to attain greater community participation. The research also recommends that development projects should insist on direct consultation with stakeholders affected by projects, particularly at the community level.
As a contribution to practice, this research proposed a tool-kit for greater understanding of the concept of participation for practitioners. The tool-kit is designed to help practitioners gain deeper understanding of participation as it relates to policy development, corporate social responsibilities and social performance in practice. The model looks at the goal of participation, rationale for participation, the mode, timing, and how to evaluate the performance of participation in development projects. This model provides guidance and clarification between social performance and corporate social responsibilities and further explains how participation applies to these two concepts differently.