Abstract: The aim of the study was to, among other objectives, establish if beneficiary communities make decisions in various parameters in the community driven development approach.The study design was a descriptive ex- post facto cross-sectional survey, which used a non-random sampling technique and both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The sample size was ninety (N-90) for individual interviews and five (N-47) for focus group interviews. The study established that decision making is largely mainstreamed in development processes in the community driven approach and that communities make decisions on some parameters of project components and activities. Additionally, decision-making processes are mainly “representational”. It can be concluded that beneficiary communities make decisions in some aspects and not others in the community driven development approach, as is the case with conventional and top - down approaches. Further, as established by the study, conspicuous lack of decision making by the youth and opinion leaders in development processes in this approach has implications of exclusion, an aspect that negates tenets of people-centred and driven development ideals, a gap which development practitioners need to address.
Keywords: Beneficiary, Community Driven, Development, Decision Making, Project, Stages.
Title: Decision Making in Community Driven Development: Whose Opinions Count in What?
Author: Waweru Rebecca, Dr Ndati Ndeti
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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