Reconciling theory and practice on the participation of the downtrodden in poverty intervention policies and programs

Abstract

The advocacy for the inclusion of community participation in policy process and consideration for the vox populi (voice of the people) in poverty intervention policies and programs has become a global mantra., Albeit, there are dearth of study that integrates theory and practice of participation to empirically test the effect of participation of the downtrodden on policies that affect them. This paper adopts mixed method to relate the theory and practice vis-a-vis examine the efficacy of participation of the downtrodden in poverty intervention programs in Niger state rural area. The quantitative findings indicate significant relationship between participation of the downtrodden in policy initiation and poverty reduction, while the qualitative result reveals that participation is theoretically faultless but empirically faulty-it is elite dominating and more of indoctrination, political gimmick, deceit, pretense, and mere formality than reality. Resolutions where neither reflected in the policy agenda nor implemented. Consequently, participation of the downtrodden in policy is not suffice to alleviate poverty, thus, the study recommends for legal empowerment of an instituted advocacy group, featuring the Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the like of Civil Society Organization (CSO), dominant beneficiaries of intervention programs and stakeholders to checkmate the assumed excessive power of all and sundry connected to the intervention programs.