This report is the output of a three-week study carried out in MBEBILI-BAFUT by nine participants of the Diploma in Development Studies (DDS) course in the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa (PAID-WA).
After gaining knowledge on the common core development courses, this study was geared towards making students more practical and analytical in identifying problems, analysing them and drawing up suggested action plans (suggest Development Plans), based on the identified problems.
The participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method was used for this study. The multidisciplinary team which was formed to carry out the study used various PRA tools such as Focus Group Discussion (FGD) , semi structured interviews (SSI), Direct Observation, Visualisation, Village map and Transect, Timeline, Seasonal Calendar, SWOT Analysis, just to name a few.
With the active participation of the community, six core problems were identified. After prioritization, two suggested Development Plans (SDPs) were drawn by the PRA team for the two most important problems which were:
- Difficult access to markets
- Inadequate facilities for village meetings
The SDPs were drawn taking into consideration the village’s potentials such as stones, sand, laterite and other which could be used during the implementation of the project. The findings and action plans were presented to the community during a village seminar organised at the end of the study. To the people of Mbebili, the rehabilitation of the road is the door way to eventual development in the community.
