DECENTWORK, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTAND SOCIALWORK PRACTITIONERS’ INVOLVEMENTAS CORRELATE OF QUALITY LIFEAMONG YOUTHS WORKING IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

The study examined decent work and the involvement of community development and social work practitioners as correlate of quality life among youths working in rural communities. The study used descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of the 900 youths working in Gbara Village, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State. The sample size was 280 participants comprising 270 youths and 10 Community Development and Social Work practitioners. The sample size for the youths was calculated using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) at 95% level of confidence and 5% margin of error. The proportionate stratified random sampling technique and simple sampling technique were used to select the participants. The research instrument was validated by subject experts. The test-retest reliability was analyzed and a correlation coefficient ‘r’ of 0.85 was obtained. The study answered four research questions. Three null hypotheses were tested through inferential statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The finding of the study showed that decent work was not available among youths working in rural communities because they were engaged in non-standard work. The study showed that there was a low positive significant between two variables at (r = .185, p = 0.002) implying that decent work influenced quality of life among youths in rural communities. There was a low positive significant relationship at (r = .131, p = 0.028) between the involvement of Community Development and Social Work practitioners and decent work for youths in rural communities. There was also a low positive significant relationship at (r = .124, p = 0.038) between the involvement of Community Development and Social Work practitioners and improved quality of life among youths in rural communities. The study recommended that the relevant agencies of government should strengthen labour legislations and engage Occupational Social Workers as a part of the government inspection directorate to implement decent work in companies in the informal sector. Stakeholders in the social sector and higher education should collaborate to prioritize occupational social work and build the competencies of social workers to advocate for the employment rights of youths working in rural communities