Abstract:
This study is about the extent of community participation in government-funded projects such as
the Malawi Education Sector Improvement Programme (MESIP). Community participation
rhetoric is given prominence in development projects initiated by Malawi government and other
external agencies. The study employed convergent mixed methods research design to explore the
nature and extent of community participation at all stages of the MESIP project cycle. The study
also assessed factors affecting local people’s participation in government-funded projects such as
MESIP. The study found that there was minimal involvement of community members during the
needs assessment, identification of interventions, project planning, and monitoring and evaluation
stages of MESIP. Government officials dominated decision-making and manipulated, instead of
facilitating the development processes. However, the study noted that the participation of
respondents in the project implementation stage was considerably high. The study, therefore,
concluded that community participation in the MESIP project in Chasato Zone was up to the third
rung of Arnstein's ladder of participation - Informing. Local people’s participation in MESIP was
influenced by the level of awareness, level of income, people’s perception of MESIP, and some
demographic factors such as marital status and religion, which influenced community participation
in government-initiated MESIP. The study recommends that government programming should
follow a bottom-up approach to ensure meaningful community participation right away from needs
assessment to project evaluation stage. Involving community members from the initial stages of
the project would improve people’s perception of the project thereby increasing their participation
as well. The study also recommends the use of direct means of sharing information with local
people to increase their participation.
