A STUDY OF LHMB ZAAR FESTIVAL AS A STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNAL DEVELOPMENT

A STUDY OF LHMB ZAAR FESTIVAL AS A STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract:

Recent approaches to community development are driven by some practices that fail to recognize the integral link between culture and development. For development to speak to the needs and realities of a people there is a need to re-conceptualize development as a process, one which examines how cultural forms such as festivals can inform development within a community.Using a discursive structure, this study assesses the LhmbZaar festival of the ZaarSayawa people of TafawaBalewa and Bogoro local Government Areas of Bauchi State with the aim to determine ways in which it could strategically function to foster communal growth. This was done to achieve the set objectives of the study which looked at the activities of the festival, challenges facing the festival in ensuring sustainable development and to suggest ways through which sustainable development can be achieved through the LhmbZaar festival. There has been a renewed emphasis on recognition of culture and communal participation by community members as important steps towards the attainment of sustainable development. Hence, festivals present themselves as veritable platforms through which endogenous development can be achieved when they are effectively utilized. The study therefore deployed community participation theory and qualitative research tools to collect and analyze data. Through focus group discussions, participant observation, and interviews with local community associations, local chiefs as well as community members, the findings revealed that festivals are culturally friendly tools capable of engineering community development. However, this function has largely been compromised in the case of LhmbZaar Festival due to inadequate participation and involvement of some important people in the community such as the youths, girls, and some traditional rulers. More so, the findings reveals that there has not been any attempt to set up an institutional structure with a mandate to consolidate all development projects usually discussed and initiated during the festival. Consequently, the study recommended that communal participation should be encouraged and structures should be put on ground to ensure continuity and sustainability in community development projects.

A STUDY OF LHMB ZAAR FESTIVAL AS A STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNAL DEVELOPMENT