A social work study on sustainable human development in the Khomas region

Abstract

Abstract provided by author:

The research study aims to identify current levels of participation by local people in development projects. To understand the role of local people in sustainable development one first needs to agree that they indeed have a role to play, secondly one needs to determine the type of role they need to play and thirdly explore the capacity needed to effectively play this role

Guided by the aims and objectives of this study the evaluation research design was applied to enable a critical evaluation of social interventions (development projects) in a systematic and scientific way

Five development projects were selected from the Namibia Non-governmental - Organization Forum (NANGOF) members list. A representative sample of twenty (20) respondents was randomly selected from each project, to constitute the primary population of a total of one hundred (100) respondents

The data were obtained from the primary population through structured interviews and focus group discussions. Complementary data from the secondary population was collected through self-administered structured questionnaires

The findings of this study imply that the general understanding of sustainable development by the beneficiaries mainly refer to regular income and proper housing, followed by access to land and water

These factors basically refer to the basic needs of the beneficiaries and are consistent with Korten (1990-67) who defines sustainable development as a process by which the society mobilized and managed resources to produce sustainable improvements consistent with peoples own needs and aspirations

The findings further confirm the importance of participation of the beneficiaries; it also implies that participation is more likely and effective if started in the early stages of a project, such as during needs assessments and the planning and design of the projects