Tanga, P.T., Department of Social Work / Social Development, University of Fort Hare, South Africa; Mundau, M., Department of Social Work / Social Development, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of donor-funded community empowerment projects on poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe. The primary data were collected from a questionnaire survey from 52 project members who were from two local NGOs that were selected randomly. A semi-structured interview guide designed for two officials of the selected NGOs implementing the projects was also used. The findings show that there is heavy dependence on outside funding, no adherence to the principles of the empowerment approach and a failure to positively impact the lives of the project members. This therefore calls for NGOs to adopt better empowerment practices: community involvement in decision making, project ownership, and clear lines of communication with the NGOs. However the findings also show the strength of linking project members with relevant institutions and training in order to ensure sustainability of community projects that may foster community empowerment towards poverty eradication. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014.
