Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions held by extension personnel
regarding community participation in extension and rural development programs in Khartoum
State, Sudan.
The study was conducted using the descriptive survey method, to describe the characteristics of
extension personnel in Khartoum State. The population of the study was the personnel of
agricultural extension in Khartoum State, Sudan. The total number of agricultural extension
personnel eligible to participate in the study was (95) representing the entire population of the
study. The survey instrument was developed by the researchers and used to collect the data.
Five-point likert scales were used for the three parts of the questionnaire. The subprogram
frequencies were used to analyze means, standard deviations, frequency counts, and percentages
of occupational and demographic data. The reliability of the survey instrument was tested and
alpha score from 0.73 to 0.89 was obtained for the entire instrument. The main findings of the
study were: (1) more than fifty percent of the respondents were females, (2) the majority of the
respondents obtained Master's degree, (3) the mean importance rating of six planning activities
were all above 4.00, ranging from 4.02 to 4.74; four activities ranging from 3.56 to 3.77,(4) the
mean importance rating of seven implementation activities were all above 4.00, ranging from
4.03 to 4.62; two activities ranging from 3.60 to 3.97, and (5) The mean importance rating of
four monitoring and evaluation activities were all above 4.00, ranging from 4.15 to 4.51. On the
five-point scale used in this study, the findings show that in spite of the number of significant
differences identified by the Scheffe tests, the respondents were in general agreement regarding the importance of community participation in extension and rural development programs in
Khartoum State. |
