IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS SKILLS FOR IMPROVED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES IN ENUGU NORTH SENATORIAL ZONE.

This study determined how implementation of social workers skills can improve community development programmes in Enugu North senatorial zone. The study was carried out in Enugu State using a descriptive survey research design. One research question and one null hypotheses guided the study. The population for the study was 1457 community development officers and executive members of Town Union in the six local government areas of the zone. The sample size of the study was 460 respondents which comprised 212 community development officers and 248 executive members of town unions in the six local government areas of the zone. The instrument used for data collection was a 9 itemed structured questionnaire which was face validated by three research experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha method and the reliability coefficient of the instrument yielded alpha value of 0.79. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation and t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed that implementation of social workers skills to a great extent were provided for community development programmes in Enugu North senatorial zone. The null hypotheses tested showed no significant difference in the mean ratings of community development officers and executive members of town union (respondents) on how implementation of social workers skills improve community development programmes in Enugu North senatorial zone. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that social workers should ensure direct engagement of community members in implementation of programmes or projects in their various communities as it will help to facilitate the programmes or projects. Also, the government should encourage and support social workers to embark on more social works for the development of communities.