FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EFFECTIVENESS OF UNIVERSITY-BASED RURAL DEVELOPMENT OUTREACHES IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

The study investigated factors associated with effectiveness of University-Based Rural Development Outreaches (UBRDOs) in Southwestern Nigeria. A total of 336 outreach beneficiaries were interviewed using interview schedule, in the two purposively selected UBRDOs using a multistage sampling procedure. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The mean age of the respondents was 52.4 +/- 15.8 years and 51.2 percent have been benefiting from UBRDOs for the past 10 years. A higher percentage (75.6%) got information about UBRDOs through their outreach's personnel. Some of the activities facilitated by the outreach were workshop on income generating activities (100%) and linkage with collaborating agencies (100%). Many (55.16%) respondents indicated that the outreach was moderately effective. Factors associated with effectiveness of UBRDOs were socio economic related (lambda = 1.9622), outreach personnel related (lambda = 1.6744), institutional (UBRDOs) related (lambda = 2.6458) and community related (lambda = 0.9274) factors. The factors identified explained 83.50 percent of the variance in effectiveness of UBRDOs in Southwestern Nigeria. It is recommended that efforts and resources should be mobilized by the outreach administrators towards addressing the factors associated with effectiveness of UBRDOs.