Community Based Initiatives

So, the kids on my program are doing two projects: Youth to Youth Development and Community Based Initiatives. The Community Based Initiatives (CBI's) are designed to give the community a chance to decide on a project that they want to implement, to fundraise part of the money, and to realize the project. In theory, they are a really good concept.
This week, however, has been a total struggle to get them off of the ground. The people who were sups in San Pancho before me did not do a great job... They got the presidencia, and hence, mafioso, involved in not only the buying of materials but also the 'mano de obra' which is the labor of the project. So everywhere I went this week, the people had this screwbally idea of what exactly was happening. Basically, in the end we're giving 400 dollars to each community for them not to have any true hand in the project...

While annoying, I sort of have to deal with the status quo, especially because in 2 of my communities, the projects never got done last year and the people are pissed. so I've had to deal with appeasing them by doing these projects.
In the end, the projects that we're doing are : fixing up the altar of the church, fixing the casa de salud grounds/putting in a floor, putting up a roof over the back of the casa de salud (health clinic), and putting towers on a church. Do we see the themes here? casa de salud and church...
I was hoping for some more creative projects, that would get the community involved, but oh well. It just feels like these are much more on the 'developme nt' scheme than starting people thinking about projects that they could do themselves without outside help...