The Politics of Empowerment: Fadama III, Fadama Community Associations and Poverty Reduction in Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study interrogates whether Fadama Community Associations (FCAs) as vehicles of community-driven empowerment sustain poverty reduction after donor exit. Despite 280 million USD investment in Fadama III (2009-2015) covering 358 FCAs in Niger State, evidence on post-project sustainability remains scarce. Anchored on Zimmerman's Empowerment Theory operationalized through Community-Driven Development (CDD) as politics of power relations, the study adopted cross-sectional survey of 240beneficiaries across 12 FCAs in six LGAs, complemented by 12 key informant interviews and 6 focus group discussions conducted in 2025. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, empowerment index, and binary logistic regression (SPSS v28). Findings show FCAs retained empowerment: 71.7%recorded moderate to high empowerment eight years after closure, with 32% nominal income gain and 23.8percentage point improvement in food security (2015-2025). Empowerment significantly predicted poverty reduction (β=0.824, OR=2.28, p<.001). However, constraints threaten sustainability, notably inadequate post-project funding (77.5%), weak linkage with Local Government (64.2%), limited market access (59.6%), and insecurity (50.4%). The study concludes that while FCAs reduced poverty while empowered, gains are politically fragile because decentralization created parallel structures not embedded in local governance. It recommends institutionalization of FCAs into LGA structure, establishment of Fadama Sustainability Fund, strengthened market linkages, continuous capacity building, and improved rural security.