The Viability of DAPP Hope Humana Development Initiatives to Promote Sustainable Rural Development: A Community Perception

Abstract

This research investigates the viability of DAPP (Development Aid from People to People) Hope Humana development initiatives for encouraging sustainable rural development. The research aims to ascertain from a community perception the viability of these initiatives so as to lay recommendations to address the underlying factors which hinder non-governmental organisations (NOGs) from fulfilling their development objective of achieving sustainable rural development. This would pave the way for the achievement of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The research adopts a descriptive qualitative tradition supported by the voice extraction method and a case study, all deeply rooted in qualitative research. A total of 20 community members participated in the research. Research instruments used were face-to-face in-depth interviews with both open-ended and closed-ended questions, focus group discussions, document analysis and the research’s observations. The study finds that most of the initiatives by DAPP Hope Humana were viable enough to encourage sustainable rural development as perceived by the community beneficiaries. The research also established that the community pointed out some of the initiatives as being not viable to encourage rural development. Therefore, to address the factors affecting the success of DAPP Hope Humana interventions in achieving sustainable rural development in Bindura District and Zimbabwe at large, this research recommends that the government, as the regulating authority, should create a conducive and enabling environment for NGOs to successfully implement development initiatives, and also empower locals not to just wait for NGO assistance but also strive to make ends meet on their own. NGOs need to conduct solid baseline surveys, embrace agricultural research and technology, and monitor and evaluate their projects. Finally, the research also recommends NGOs to use the participatory approach as well as promote endogenous initiatives at the expense of exogenous in order to achieve sustainable rural development.