Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review ISSN 2315-6880 Vol. 2(7) pp. 138-149 July 2013 Available online http//www.basicresearchjournals.org Copyright ©2013 Basic Research Journal Full Length Research Paper Confronting the challanges and barriers to community participation in rural development initiatives in Buhera district, Ward 12 Zimbabwe Ephraim Chifamba Great Zimbabwe University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Rural Development Author’s email: ephchifamba00@gmail.com Accepted 20 July, 2013 Community participation in rural development is widely recognized as a basic operational principle of rural development, although debates about this concept are fervent. Beneficiaries of community projects have been seen as consumers of services, and their role in rural development has been accorded less importance. Community participation has been limited to consultation, thereby stifling the creative capabilities and potential of community members at all levels of the society. A descriptive case study design was used to collect primary data in addition to secondary data. Questionnaires were administered to participants selected through proportionate sampling to ensure representation and stratification at all levels. Two hundred respondents were interviewed. The data collected was analyzed numerically and descriptively and is presented in the sum of text and tables. The study revealed that there is relatively low degree of community influence or control over organizations in which community members participate, especially given that the services are usually controlled by people who are not poor or recipients of services. Community members are usually going through an empty ritual of participation; hence they have no real power needed to affect the outcome of rural development process. The study noted that participatory rural development has no predetermined outcomes; it can lead to transformation and change in the social patterns and sometimes it perpetuates and trigger the antithesis of ‘community liberation,’ devolution and distribution of power among various stakeholders. Thus, the form of participation in rural development initiatives in Buhera has transformed and modified the relations of power that objectify and subjugate people, leaving them without a voice. The study recommended that community participation should be centered on the role of the community as primary actors who should be allowed and enabled to influence and share the responsibility (and possibly costs) of rural development process. Keywords: Community Participation, Rural Development, Decentralization, Sustainable Development, Zimbabwe, INTRODUCTION Community participation is considered as an imperative feature for successful and prosperity of rural development. To better address the complexity of poverty in rural areas, and to explore that programmes respond to the needs of beneficiaries, participatory approaches introduced in the 1970’s have become core components, albeit with various development levels of success in many rural poverty reduction programmes (Stoker, 1997). These approaches recognize that the poor themselves are the key agents of change for the transformation of rural areas. Although most development agencies agree on the importance of adopting a participatory approaches in rural development initiatives, evidence suggest that participation as a concept and as a methodology is quite complex and its success depends on many interrelated factors (Patel, 1998). Local assessment of community participation in Buhera suggests that most projects have not been successful in enhancing participation. Projects have not managed to supply even the minimum drinking water, food and fodder needs of the inhabitants. Continued lack of meaningful development in Buhera shows that participatory