APPRAISAL OF COMMUNITY ADULT WOMEN CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN OGBA/EGBEMA/NDONI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE.

DR. I. I. OHIA

Abstract
The paper appraised the contributions of community adult women to community development in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area of rivers state. The methodology use was survey descriptive method. The aim of this paper is to find out community development projects carried out by the community adult women in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. Also to identify the units/groups of women organizations in different communities; examine the projects embarked upon by community adult women in various communities of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area and source of fund raising. Major
findings provide that most carried out complete projects by the community adult women were related to purchase of land, building, furnishing, health care facilities, and educational development between 1990-1999. Socio-cultural, agriculture, housing and health care projects
were the prominent ones completed between 2000 and 2021. Financial contributions, levy imposition, non-member donations and raising of loans were dominant form of financial source and fund-raising. Local government area and NGOs give financial assistance to the women.
Wider participation of the women in community development is also recommended.

Introduction
People view community development in different perspectives. This is because scholars and development practitioners have seen the term based on their practices of community development. Frank and Smith in Ugwu (2008) see community development as “the planned
evolution of all aspects of community well-being-economic, social, environmental, political and cultural”. The idea here is that community development all areas of community lives whether directly or indirectly. It is a structured intervention that gives communities greater control over the conditions that affects their lives. Supporting this view, Nwangwu cited in Ugwu (2008) describes community development as “a conscious effort by members of a community (indigenes) or agencies interested in the community (outsiders) to chart a course that will move
the community in question forward to a better more desirable future”. In this regard, we can deduce two characteristics from what has been said so far. One, community development is not an arbitrary thing but a conscious and planned effort by community people to change their lives.
Again, the beneficiaries are at the heart of the development process which affects all areas of their lives. However, community development can also be approached by insiders or outsiders but it gives the beneficiaries greater control of their own development. Anyway in community
development approach the important thing is that the process makes community members:
Become more responsible
Organize and plan together
Develop healthy options
Strengthen their capacities
Empower themselves and increase their skills
Reduce ignorance, poverty and suffering