Chapter 11: Community Development Associations and Fundraising for Self-Help Projects in African Suburbia for Rural Development

The African suburbia is an evolving smart frontier of new development areas connecting cities with rural communities in modern Nigeria. Precolonial societies developed their communities through collaborative self-help initiatives. The convergence of inclusive and sustainable communities with an emphasis on home-grown capacities is pivotal to Sustainable Development Goals 2030 in Nigeria. However, the government has not been able to meet the growing needs of urban communities. As a result, rural communities continue to suffer neglect. The emerging suburbia is driven by Community Development Associations (CDAs) through self-help projects to provide social amenities which are capital intensive. Rural development involves mobilization of the inherent capacity of the people to engender changes through deployment of resources in the community. The chapter explores CDAs’ local fundraising initiatives in community development self-help projects for rapid rural development in Nigeria. Different theoretical approaches to citizens’ participation in rural development were expounded to rationalize CDAs’ involvement. The law governing CDAs recognized the concept of self-help in fundraising for rural development in communities. The traditional model for fundraising involves members’ contributions, levies, and donations. The chapter discusses innovative fundraising initiatives within and outside rural communities that are consistent with the objectives of the CDAs. There are challenges that hamper CDAs’ fundraising efforts for self-help projects in rural communities. The problem of capacity development exacerbates these challenges. It is suggested that CDAs should evolve creative nonformal education to upscale their members’ capacity and collaborate with external stakeholders to unlock different external sources for funding community projects.