Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to assess the participation of youth in community development projects and
the extent and strategies to which the youth can be meaningfully engaged in community development projects
and present an evaluation of the challenges facing them in that direction at Addis Ketema Sub-City
Administration Governmental Offices. The study was adopted mixed research approach and particularly
descriptive research design was applied. For this purpose, a sample of 136respondentswas drawn through
simple random sampling technique for surveying and 37 head offices were chosen through purposive sampling
technique for interview. Self-administer questionnaire and Interview guide were used to gather data. The
collected data were analyzed by using SPSS-Version 20.Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for
the data analysis. The descriptive statistics such as frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation were used
for describing the demographic characteristics of respondents and the whole perception of respondents on
youth participation in community development projects. Likewise, inferential statistics particularly, correlation
matrix is employed to show the magnitude and intensity of relationship of the variables. The findings of the
study indicated that, education encouraged the youth to participate in community development projects i.e.
educated youth were better empowered for participation in the community base as indicated by majority of
youth respondents. The study also revealed that individual and social factors influenced youth participation in
the implementation of community development projects. It was further indicated that male youths participated
in the implementation of community projects more than female. Likewise, the study specified that youths were
involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of community development projects. In
general, educational, individual and social factors have positive, moderate/strong and significant relationship
with youth participation. Finally, the study recommended that at Addis Ketema Sub-City Administration
Governmental Offices, every government offices should develop strategies to hold back the challenges faced
by youths in trying to be part and parcel of the implementation of community development projects in
planning, decision making, monitoring and evaluation and also have their voices heard. Also, the
governmental offices create conducive environment for youth that the youth must practically organize
themselves and be in position to play a leadership role in order to insure their participation and benefits
