Self-help initiatives and rural development in Ibesikpo community of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of self-help initiatives on rural development in Ibesikpo community of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Self help initiatives were defined in terms of provision of employment, education and health-care. A sample size of 369 rural dwellers was drawn and data were analyzed using simple regression analysis. The paper shows that community self-help employment programmes, community self-help education programme and community self help health-care programmes have significant influence on rural development. The paper concludes that self-help initiatives are tools which can be employed by rural communities to partly remedy their state of underdevelopment.

Keywords: Self-help, employment, education, health-care, rural development