Assessment of Community Engagement Communication Practices of Development Projects in Gombe State

Development projects in northeastern Nigerian states frequently fail to achieve intended outcomes due to inadequate community engagement communication, which affects ownership, acceptance, and sustainable uptake of project interventions. This study assessed the community engagement communication practices of development projects in Gombe State, North East Nigeria. A professional assessment design was employed, combining document analysis of communication and stakeholder engagement plans from six active development projects (funded by UNICEF, World Bank, and bilateral donors) with structured interviews with 18 project community engagement officers and 12 community leaders from project sites in Gombe, Balanga, and Dukku LGAs. Assessment dimensions covered audience analysis quality, channel selection appropriateness, feedback mechanism functionality, linguistic inclusivity, and cultural sensitivity in communication design. Results showed that community engagement communication plans were present in five of six projects but were rated as practically adequate for local context application in only two. Hausa-language materials were available across all projects, but minority language speakers in Balanga and Dukku remained underserved. Feedback mechanisms were formally designed in all projects but functional in only three, with the others relying on informal feedback during project staff visits. Community leader endorsement communication was practised in four of six projects. The study recommends that development project funders and implementing agencies in Gombe State mandate pre-project participatory communication assessments, ensure multilingual feedback infrastructure, and build community communication capacity beyond project cycles.

Keywords: community engagement, development communication, Gombe State, project communication, North East Nigeria