This study sought to investigate factors militating against community participation in development projects executed under the Micro Projects Programme and how to reduce such factors to the barest minimum in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. A questionnaire, an in-depth interview (IDI) guide and a focus group discussion (FGD) guide were used for data collection. Borehole water, generator-house, health centres, staff quarters and markets were the projects executed. Inadequate devolution of power to the grassroots, among others, was the major problem that hindered involvement of community members in the development process of the Micro Projects Programme in the study areas. To enhance active participation of beneficiaries in the development process of the programme, suggestions are proffered.
This article identifies some of the key challenges hindering effective social work education and practice in Africa nations. These problems include an orientation that is remedial or curative, involvement of non-social work graduates in social work posts, lack of a regulating or coordinating body, an overall dependency on extrapolated curricula and Western methods amongst others. Most African nations although with huge wealth are wallowing in abject poverty resulting in various social maladies such as kidnapping, child abuse, substance misuse, corruption, lack of organised social welfare institutions, unsustainable development, human trafficking, unemployment, lack of leadership and social injustice, as a resultant effects of exploitative colonialists and or imperialists.These call for holistic practice interventions to solve these social ills. This paper strongly advocates that social work in the African continent should be given legal backing to ensure a professional social work education and practice. The social work education curriculum should be developed to reflect African social contexts and its approaches to social work practice and not just be restricted 2 to Western approaches alone. On this premise, this paper proposes 'cultural humility' and 'transaction between individuals and environment (TIE)' frameworks that would enhance social work education and practice in Africa.
Social work education in Africa is faced with a myriad of challenges that require immediate attention for a sustainable future. If the principles of social justice, human rights and respect for diversities are central to the social work profession, then the education and practice of social work in Nigeria should be culturally relevant in engaging people and structures to address challenges. Participants for the study included four social work educators, 10 social work students and four social work practitioners. Findings from the research suggest the need for a paradigm shift from Western pedagogy to a more inclusive Nigerian pedagogy for a sustainable future.
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