Community Participation in Rural Development Project Implementation: Case Study of Kandaketiya Divisional Secretariat in Sri Lanka

Rural development projects are advancing slowly in rural areas partly due to a lack of community participation in project implementation.  In the Sri Lankan context, state-governed projects are often planned by the Ministries and Departments, yet beneficiaries get the chance to engage with projects at the implementation stage. Divisional Secretariats play a major role when implementing projects at the rural level in Sri Lanka. Hence, this study aims to explore the reasons for lower community participation in rural development project implementation in a selected divisional secretariat called Kandaketiya in Sri Lanka, to examine issues encountered in community participation in rural development project implementation, and to make suggestions to increase active community participation. The study used a qualitative case study design by collecting data from the field officers engaged in rural project implementation and community members separately. Six focus group discussions were employed, and data analysis was done thematically.  As the reasons for lower community participation, the study found that lack of awareness, negative community perception, administrative and management issues of government institutes, time constraints, geographical barriers, and limited infrastructure availability. The study revealed that issues encountered in community participation in rural development project implementation as intergenerational conflicts and poor teamwork, insufficient monitoring by field officers, poor officer-community relationship, and lack of transparency in financial matters. Introducing a daily wage system, enhancing communication facilities, conducting need analysis tests, increasing financial transparency, conducting community awareness and capacity-building training for officers, and introducing people-centric project designs were stated as suggestions for increasing community participation. Keywords - Community Participation, Project Implementation, Rural Development