This essay will discuss two educational programs to improve the living conditions of students from low income families that Pedro T. Orata conducted during the middle years of the twentieth century. The question this paper will investigate is whether Orata considered the people he was trying to help as being trapped by the conditions of poverty to…

This paper describes an organization developed by and for people with physical disabilities in Malaysia, as a case study of self-help action in the southeast Asia region. The paper reviews the origin and growth of the organization, its program of activities, and the nature and future of disability self-help. (Author/JDD)

A community water supply project in Cameroon illustrates the following constraints on community participation in development: paternalistic authorities, prescriptive role of the state, selective participation, bias toward "hard" issues, inattention to negative results, group conflicts, gatekeeping, pressure for immediate results,…

A study of three Nigerian villages produced the following suggestions for improving the problems facing rural community development: democratic participative decision making, care in project selection, government incentives, promotion of adult literacy, and well-trained community workers. (SK)

The case study examines the work of a coalition between certain women's groups in India and a nongovernmental charitable trust. The mission of the coalition is to empower Indian women, who generally possess neither land nor power, to care for their livestock. (CH)

Illustrates the three central tenets of primary health care (equality, systemic dynamics, and self-reliance) and highlights points of similarity with adult education. Demonstrates adult education's role in promoting health care: information, mobilization, and integration. (SK)

The three major goals of the International Labour Organisation's Workers' Education Programme are (1) strengthening of rural workers' organizations; (2) development of institutional and financial structures for the support of workers' education; and (3) focus on education for social and economic participation. (SK)

The paper documents and analyzes the nature of community self-help efforts in rural areas of Anambra State, Nigeria. It notes that community perceptions of development are based on a social and economic yardstick and differ from the prevailing public policy on agricultural development. (Author/SB)

Describes the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the political arena, as well as in development and public welfare roles. Traces the recent history of grassroots efforts to solve social problems in Latin America. NGOs can strengthen institution building and influence national policymaking. (KS)

Discusses how cultural vitality drives successful community development. Links cultural, community, and environmental values. Examines successes and failures of programs attempting to link culture and development in Panama, Ecuador, and Colombia. Examines role of cultural self-examination for creating new development paradigm. Examines prospects…

This special issue contains nine articles on labor-intensive public works, social investment funds, rural infrastructure projects, grassroots socioeconomic rights, remuneration systems for self-help projects, road construction and rural transport, employment and environmental rehabilitation, and water as a source of employment. (SK)

This bulletin, concerned mainly with the educational problems in developing lands, focuses on school development, the future of education, and the schools that will have to be built to meet the needs of the future. The report deals with problems arising from the present rates of dropout in traditional primary education, and proposes possible…

The Citizens' Campaign Against Hunger and Poverty and For Life is a nongovernmental organization in Brazil that recruited and organized more than three million volunteers to distribute food baskets, support gardening and water projects, provide basic health care, create jobs, assist homeless children, and encourage local and state governments to…

The Fundacion Social, a grassroots organization in Colombia, uses profits from its 14 companies to fund community self-help initiatives aimed at eliminating poverty. Social programs focus on community integration, microbusinesses, recycling, education, and communication. The organization seeks to eliminate structural poverty and is currently…