Abstract
Youths are dynamic force for social transformation and rural community development. This study identified types of youth groups and their roles in rural community development; constraints to effective participation of youth in rural community development and strategies to improve effective participation of youths in rural community development. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 60 respondents for the study. Data were analysed with frequency count, percentages and mean scores. Result shows that greater percentage (60.0%) of the youths was male and had mean age of 24 years. Majority (89.50%) of the respondents belonged to Afikpo youth organisation and their major roles included town hall building (86.40%), school development (81.40%) and market building (74.60%). Constraints to effective participation of youth in rural community development included limited access to finance (M=2.14; SD=0.88), inadequate skill (M=2.00; SD=0.76) and limited material benefit for the participants (M=2.14; SD=0.86). It was suggested therefore that the youths should be provided with skill (M=1.62; SD=0.63), sponsored (M=1.34; SD=0.58) and employed (M=1.32; SD=0.72).
Key words: Youth, community development, roles.
