Enacting Community Development Principles in Women Empowerment Projects: a Case Study in Ondo State, Nigeria

There is increasing global interest in women empowerment and the ways in which rural women are involved and supported in community development. Women empowerment, a vital component of community development, is closely linked to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 5 in the United Nations Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which is geared toward achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls by the year 2030. While there is broad consensus about the importance of women empowerment for economic growth, scant attention is given to how community development principles inform community projects aimed at empowering women. Using a single-case study research design, the article explores the extent to which principles of community development (such as self-help, self-growth, felt need, citizenship participation, self-reliance and self-direction) are employed by a Nigerian-based nongovernmental women's organisation in empowering vulnerable and disadvantaged women in the rural context of Ondo State, Nigeria. A systematic document review of the organisation's published bulletins, journal articles, annual reports and social media posts about its empowerment activities were analysed as part of the study. The case study shows that when women beneficiaries are actively and inextricably involved in the design and implementation of programmes intended to improve their livelihoods, the impact is exponential, and the results are achieved expeditiously. The article argues for community development programme planners and implementers to see women beneficiaries as active contributors and participants to their development instead of conceiving of them as passive recipients, and consumers of palliative interventions.