Community Engagement and Sustainability of Programs: Basis for Enhancement

This study examined the relationship between community engagement and the sustainability of programs in one of the industries as a basis for an enhancement research study. Using a quantitative descriptive-correlational research design, data were collected from 100 community residents through a validated researcher-made questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Spearman's Rank-Order Correlation were used to analyze the data.The findings revealed that respondents were predominantly female, aged 31–40 years, and belonged to low-income households. Both community engagement (M = 4.53, SD = 0.45) and sustainability of programs (M = 4.37, SD = 0.48) were rated Very High. Moreover, a strong positive and statistically significant relationship was found between community engagement and the sustainability of programs (rₛ = 0.726, p < .001), indicating that higher community engagement is associated with greater program sustainability. The study concludes that community engagement is significantly and positively associated with the perceived sustainability of community development programs. However, because the study employed a descriptive-correlational design and relied primarily on respondents’ perceptions, the findings do not establish a causal relationship between community engagement and program sustainability. The findings provide a basis for strengthening community participation, stakeholder collaboration, transparency, and community ownership while recognizing the need for broader and longitudinal investigations using objective measures of program sustainability

Community Engagement; Program Sustainability; Community Participation

1. Brundtland Commission. (n.d.). Our common future. Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Pretty, J. N. (2023). Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture. World Development, 23(8), 1247–1263. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. United Nations Development Programme. (2022). Human development report 2021/2022: Uncertain times, unsettled lives. https://hdr.undp.org [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. (2023). In brief: Governance and participation of women in public life. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. World Bank. (2022). Social sustainability and inclusion overview. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Impact of Ownership Structure on Dividend Payout Policy of Listed Plantation Companies in Sri Lanka
• Urban Sustainability in North-East India: A Study through the lens of NER-SDG index
• Performance Assessment of Predictive Forecasting Techniques for Enhancing Hospital Supply Chain Efficiency in Healthcare Logistics
• The Fractured Self in Julian Barnes' Postmodern Fiction: Identity Crisis and Deflation in Metroland and the Sense of an Ending
• Impact of Flood on the Employment, Labour Productivity and Migration of Agricultural Labour in North Bihar