A bottom-up participatory governance institutional framework for sustainable community development in a Malaysian sub-urban area

The concern in governance institutional framework for a sustainable community development has been recognised as being a major social, economic and environment concern which has been a focal point of the United Nation and deliberated in Rio+20 summit. The UNEP (2012) report recognised that the present governance institutional framework is weak and UNECA (2012) claimed that it did not permeate sustainability. This has led to the development of this framework to guide practitioners to deliver higher and improved sustainability standards for their sustainable community development initiatives at the local level in Malaysia. This study explores the level of sustainability in seven suburban villages under the jurisdiction of Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara (DBKU) in Sarawak, Malaysia. In particular, the study attempts to determine to what extent its current governance and the organizational structure facilitate sustainable development. The aim of the research is to develop a participatory bottom-up governance institutional framework for a sustainable community vision that can be implemented to attain sustainable communities in the villages. To answer the research questions, aim and objectives were set out for the study a mixed method approach was adopted combining a qualitative and quantitative methodology. A qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with seven community leaders from seven villages involved in the delivery of community development at the villages. A quantitative data collected through a questionnaire survey from 300 household heads at the villages. This was analysed using Thematic Analysis, SWOT and triangulated using TOWS Matrix. These villages are classified into sustainable and unsustainable (self-sustaining and sustentation. The study identified the key causal factors that hinder the sustainability. The GAP Analysis carried out with the experts revealed that the governance institutional framework is the key causal factor hindering the attainment of sustainability. This finding led to a development of a participatory bottom up governance institutional framework using Delphi Method. The framework outlines thirteen strategies needed to naissance the sustainable community development in a suburban setting. To implement the strategies, a guideline is needed and a workshop needs to be conducted involving the community leaders, officers of the local authority and other stakeholders.