Khadijah Suulola ADESOKAN, PhD and K. O KESTER, PhD
Spidergram model was developed for measuring participation in health-related programmes. It helps to understand participation as a process and assesses the changes and progress of programmes over time. This tool describes changes in the process by plotting the situation along five critical factors in participation, namely needs assessment, leadership, organisation, management and resource mobilization. The study was anchored on the use of spidergram model in measuring participation in community development programmes with a view to determining if it would articulately capture the actual extent of participation like it has done in most previous health-related studies. The descriptive survey design was adopted. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting six PmOWAs in two states. Proportionate and stratified random sampling techniques were adopted in selecting 40.0% of members in each of the 12 selected PmOWAs who were actively involved in the various community development projects executed by the groups. The study showed that the use of spidergram model in measuring participation in community development articulately capture the actual extent of participation and that monitoring and control as well as completion stages are the most critical stages of women participation, even though the three other stages are also significant. The study concludes that spidergram model can effectively be used in measuring participation in community development programme/project hence, each of the stages, particularly the monitoring and control and completion stages were recommended as critical stages in the life cycle of a developmental project.
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