Constituency Development Fund for Local Development: Experiences of the Mufakose Constituency.

The concept of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) has been appreciated as presenting an alternative vehicle for driving community development in countries in the developing world. As a relatively recent development, existing evaluation studies on the effectiveness of the vehicle are still emerging and are insufficient for conclusive generalisations to be made. This paper attempts to analyse some of the experiences of implementing the CDF idea in one of Zimbabwe's 210 constituencies, the Mufakose Constituency. Data were gathered using documentary reviews and in-depth interviews with key informants and beneficiaries of development projects in the Mufakose communities. Findings of the study show that the CDF initiative in Mufakose has so far produced rather mixed results, where good project ideas have been executed over time but have often been let down by resource limitations and limited citizen cooperation stemming from a negative political perception of the whole initiative. The paper concludes that success with the CDF idea depends so much on the trade-offs between the roles of key stakeholders and local contextual variables, which can either facilitate or inhibit development efforts. To produce good results and worthwhile outcomes, the central government should increase the financial allocation to constituencies. Additionally, there is a need for an improvement in the citizen participation culture to increase the chances of harnessing the merits of bottom-up developmental approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]