ASSESSMENT OF PARTICIPATION OF IGBO WOMEN’S HOMETOWN ASSOCIATIONS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT The failure of the Nigerian state in Community Development (CD) has brought to the fore the activities of Hometown Associations (HTAs) especially those in diaspora. In the context of the political economy of the Igbo, such associations, especially those of women, have over the years contributed to community self-help projects even though such efforts have not been adequately addressed. Thus, this study assessed the participation of Igbo women’s HTAs in community development, empowerment programmes and infrastructural provisions in their hometowns.

The Descriptive Survey Research design was adopted. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 2130 women respondents: 852 (r = 0.4) women who were members of six Ibadan-based women’s HTAs from Anambra and Imo states and 1278 (r = 0.6) women members of ethnic self-help associations based in the six Igbo towns which the Ibadan- based women’s HTAs represent. Three instruments were used namely: ‘Women’s Hometown Associations Inventory (r=0.83), Women’s Participation in Community Development Scale (r=0.79) and Hometown Association and Community Development Scale (r=0.68). These were complemented with 16 sessions of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and six Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). Four research questions were answered and five hypotheses tested at the 0.05 level of significance. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, of Chi-square, t-test and Multiple regression, while the quality data were content analysed.

Urban women (68%) were more positively disposed to participating in HTAs’ developmental activities than rural women (32%) due to their greater exposure to modern values. Demographic factors significantly influenced the participation of Ibadan-based women’s HTAs in community development ((F= (7,2122) 50.40,p< 0.05) as they contributed 37.8% to its variance. Their relative contributions, were ranked as follows: marital status (β=0.52,p<0.05), income (β=0.44,p<0.05), level of education (β=0.39,p<0.05), age (β=0.21,p<0.05), occupation(β=0.19,p<0.05), and religious affiliations(β=0.18,p<0.05).There is a difference in the perception of married and unmarried women on the need to join HTAs and their marital status ( t=14.55, p < 0.05). There is significant difference in the perception of rural and urban women on HTAs as a tool for women’s empowerment and emancipation (t = 16.84; p < 0.05). Also, there is no significant difference in the perceptions of urban and rural women on the role of August meeting as a tool for promoting community development. The FGDs and KIIs results showed that Igbo women perceive HTAs as essential tools for the socio-economic development of their communities, especially in the area of empowerment of the rural women. This is also reflected in the two states, with more of the empowerment visible in Anambra state.

Marital status, levels of income, education, age, occupation, geographical location and religious affiliations influenced the participation of Igbo women’s HTAs in CD. CD practitioners and other policy makers in South Eastern Nigeria should seek ways of extending the roles of women HTAs and August meetings into CD and empowerment programmes. There is also a need to mainstream women and gender roles in CD programmes.

Key words: Hometown associations, Igbo women’s participation, Self-help project, Community development.

Word count: 491