Role of Community – Based Organizations in Achieving Rural Development. A Case Study of El- Obied Area Development Scheme North Kordofan State - Sudan

Abstract

This study was conducted in North Kordofan State were Area Development Scheme was implemented and funded from United Nation Development Pogramme (UNDP) resources. The objective of this study is to analyze the role of community base organizations for achieving rural development. Primary data needed for this study were mainly collected from rural people headedhouseholds in both consolidated and expansion villages of the Area Development Scheme (ADS). The tools for primary data collection included structure questionnaires, personal observations, and group discussions. The secondary data were collected from project documentations and other relevant written materials. Stratified random sampling was used and random samples were also used to complement each other. Consolidation villages and expansion villages of the Area Development Scheme were divided on the basis of progressing well and not progressing well in El-Obied Area Development Scheme as judged by the Development Worker office in El-Obied, then from each group, numbers of villages were randomly selected and finally numbers of household head were selected from these villages. In connection of these procedures 377 household head were contacted from 48 villages (33 villages from consolidated villages and 15 villages from expansion villages). The study attempted to contribute review of the literature on development, rural development and other related issues specifically theories on rural extension and the role of extension in the components of the development system. The review information on community based organizations, women in development and the role of CBOs in natural resources management. It was concluded on the basis of the study findings, that the majority of the CBOs respondents had high level of participation on Community Based organizations and different development activities in their villages, the widowed, young, and women respondents had high level of participation in CBOs, and also CBOs respondents with high level of education, readership of newspapers and leaflets were more responsive to participate on community based organizations and different development activities than others who had low levels of education and did not read newspapers and leaflets. The study indicated that the majority of rural people participated in the formation of CBOs and creation of CBOs executive committees members. CBOs managed to provide social services, mobilize communities towards development issues, and facilitating access to potential donors beside successes in creation of conducive atmosphere where by CBOs can mobilize resources and technical assistance from international non government organizations and others. The credit practice of CBOs revolving funds tended to be in the direction of soft credit without any kind of repayments conditions and this doesnot reflect the market realities. CBOs assisted in equipping their members with necessary knowledge and skills to enhance their income earning opportunities and women were able to voice out their concerns and changing some negative constraints impeding their development contribution at the local level. The study confirmed that CBOs took responsibilities of villages’ nurses and seedlings distributed by projects. CBOs helped in increasing areas under the tree cover and raised villagers awareness with respect to the importance of natural resources management. Major problems, hindering achievements of CBOs in the ADS areas were;  Inadequate capital  Lack of technical know – how  Limited markets for local products  Poor infrastructure  Information blackout  Political interference The main recommendations drawn from the study included: 1 – Community based organizations provide opportunity to influence decision making on the issues related to the rural people and room for effective participations from different social categories such as women, youth, widowes and elders, so that development benefits could be distributed eventually equally among rural people. 2- It is important to invest in deepening the sense of volunteerism and mutual benefit of being a member of groups within rural people. 3 – More efforts from development projects staff and government should be made to explain to the people at rural areas level the importance of women’s participation in any form of grass roots institutions and projects activities. They should be helped to realize that the participation of women in CBOs and different development activities is not challenging the cultural values but has an advantage in supplementary household needs and improvement of communities’ status. 3 – Providing more training to the CBOs members on credit management with emphasis on encouraging and supporting exchange visits to successful experiences of CBOs lending institutions in addition to similar international experiences. 4 – Linking CBOs with formal banking system and other funding institutions in the State should be expanded to include most of them. 5 – Focus should be placed on environmental awareness to encourage environmental friendly practices within community practice.