A research on relationship between the factors that influenced public participation in local government programs: a study conducted at Tuaran, Sabah / Nurfatin Athirah Mohd Taip and Siti Nabilah Hadi

Local governments have and will continue to be one of the prime mores of development in different parts of the world and their importance and impact on daily activities of citizens cannot be over emphasized. The terms local government refers to a political authority set up by a nation or state as a subordinate authority for the purposes of dispensing or decentralizing politics power. In the English sense, it means local self-government. Local government is a political sub-division of a national government, or in federal system, a sub-division of regional government in fact, local government administration is so intentioned with community development that any discussion on one out of necessity involves the other. This is because local government in essence, was created solely to bring development to the communities at the grass root. The concept of public participation is not a new ideology. It has received considerable attention as a result of its current mainstream position in the development sector. The emphasis on public participation is embedded in contemporary development theories "emphasising the importance of effective and participatory governance for sustainable change, and of supporting the coping and livelihood strategies of the poor" (Khan 2003:295).