Social-economic determinants of the sustainability of development projects among the Batwa in Gitega province, Burundi

Abstract

Sustainability of human development projects refers to the ability of maintaining the achievements manifested in the change of living conditions of the projects ‘beneficiaries which would stay there even when the projects phase out. In Burundi, especially in Gitega province, many government technical sectors, NGOs and private donors have been implementing uncountable development projects among Batwa communities. Unfortunately, they have never been sustainable. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to find out why human development projects implemented among the Batwa have not been sustainable. The specific objectives of the study were to: examine the influence of education levels on the sustainability of human development projects among the Batwa, analyse the influence of land scarcity on the sustainability of development projects among Batwa, identify the influence of cultural practices on the sustainability of human development projects among the Batwa, and to find out the influence of social marginalization on sustainability of human development projects among Batwa communities. The study was anchored under the relational and explanatory theories. The study used descriptive research design. The target population was 300individuals. A purposive sampling was used to draw the sample size of 129 respondents. Questionnaires were main tools for data collection. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS (Statistical package for the social sciences). Results were presented using frequency tables, and pie-charts. The study will be of great importance to local administration as it will guide them on how to concentrate on the tactics for achieving greater effectiveness and efficiency in order to enhance sustainability of human development projects among the Batwa. The findings R illustrated a simple relationship which is .857 which represented a great extent of correlation of the variables. Regression indicated that the relationship was statistically significance since p<0.000, which is less than 0.005, and shows that, entirely, the regression model significantly positively predicted the results variable, meaning that the model was a perfect fit for the data. As per findings the study concluded that there was a positively significant relationship between socio economic factors and sustainability of projects considering that all the p-values were <0.005 and <0.01. From the findings the study concluded that socio-economic factors are significant in the sustainability of projects. The study recommended that much attention should be given to the socio-economic factors since they influence the sustainability of projects, failure to which the projects will be started and end up not benefiting the community. The study may be done in other community projects to find out if similar results will be realized. The study also concentrated on effect of social economic factors on sustainability of projects, it is therefore, important to research on other factors that affect sustainability such risk analysis, and financial resources.