Community Participation

The community participation debate in local governments and its effects on planning are attracting attention among scholars all over the world (Eversole, 2011; Chirenje, Gilba & Musamba, 2012; Enshassi & Kullab, 2014; Madzivhandila & Maloka, 2014). In developed and developing countries, governments focus strongly on developing and strengthening local communities as mechanisms for both increased efficiency and effectiveness (Sullivan & Skelcher, 2002; Lowndes & Sullivan, 2004; Vadeveloo & Singaravelloo, 2013). Stoker (2011) finds that local government systems in most of the countries sustain close relationship with its citizens in giving better services. Community participation provides citizens the opportunity to influence collective decisions

To investigate community participation in local government planning in Uganda, Kitgum District . 1.2 Objectives of the study (i) To examine the relationship between community hygiene activities and planning (ii) To explore the relationship between free community involvement and planning (iii) To examine the relationship between community mobilization and planning (iv) To analyze the relationship between gender awareness and planning (v) To explore the relationship between community participation and planning 1.3 Hypotheses H1: There is a positive significant relationship between community hygiene activities and planning H2: There is a positive relationship between free involvement and planning H3: There is a positive significant relationship between gender awareness and planning H4: There is a positive significant relationship between community mobilization and planning H5: There is a positive significant relationship between participation and planning. 2.0 Literature Review Literature indicates that there is no universally agreed definition of community participation. Community participation is the process by which members of society (those not holding office or administrative positions in government) share power with public officials in making substantive decisions related to government (Burde,

In this regard, scholars argue that some communities may be poor candidates for community participation initiatives, and measurable outcomes might be better achieved with other decision-making methods (Weeks, 2000). In this regard, scholars have identified a typology of community participation as shown in Table 1. Table 1: Typology of Community Participation Typology Components of each type Passive participation People participate by being told what is going to happen or has already happened. It is a unilateral announcement by an administration or project management without any listening to people’s responses. The information being shared belongs only to external professionals. Participation in information giving People participate by giving answers to questions posed by extractive researchers and project managers using questionnaire surveys or similar approaches. People do not have the opportunity to influence proceedings, as the findings of the research or project design are neither shared nor checked for accuracy. Participation by consultation People participate through consultation and external agents listen to their