In conflict-torn Afghanistan, international nongovernmental organizations are attempting to build indigenous capacity for development. Strategies include support for women, involvement of local elders, and integration of internal and external value systems. (SK)

Older people who suffer from a sense of powerlessness, helplessness, and low self-esteem are inadequately helped by existing services. A community work approach can help them become active and empowered individuals with stronger contacts with the community. (SK)

The author presents an account of participatory research and argues for its relevance and development in Europe. He includes two illustrations showing that the knowledge that people themselves produce opposes abstract theories about them. The author concludes that the two main types of participatory research are those of professional intervention…

To assist community development administrators, the article considers the problems of program evaluation: what kind of evaluation is needed; for whom is it needed; who shall do it; what should it cost; and what are the implications of its results. (AG)

New programs are offered to help the Papago Indians in their fight against poverty. Community Development workers are trained to help achieve newer and higher standards in the community. (MR)

A study was conducted to determine whether the tenets of rural social work were applicable only to the developing countries or whether they were also meaningful in the context of other industrial nations of the West. (CT)

Craftspeople in eastern Nepal have demonstrated how they can use traditional skills to contribute both to economic development and environmental conservation. Their initiatives were achieved with little outside assistance and disruption to family life. (SK)

Two community councils in England (Middlesbrough and Islington) used very different organizational models in implementing decentralization and democratization policies. Both communities considered community development and participation central to the success of the policies. (SK)

Five areas of inquiry shape the sustainable development movement: environmental movement, women's movement, overpopulation concerns, critique of development models, and new indicators of social progress. Community development workers are challenged to prepare local development projects within a sustainable development framework. (SK)

When market-based growth fails to improve community economic development, an alternative approach to economic analysis is a process-discursive method, which considers the roles of human agents and importance of information about reality as experienced by individuals. The process model of community-sensitive transformation is participatory and can…

Discusses whether the politics of individual practitioners actually influence the causes they adopt and therefore the outcomes; describes research that reinforces the argument that no such congruency exists; and argues that barriers to radical community work are such that its major impact is to strengthen pluralism while making minimal…

Empowerment for disadvantaged communities is complex; issues involved are defining community, conflicts of interest, equating populism with empowerment, and viewing it as zero-sum. Given these impediments and the nature of disadvantage, community development should conduct rational analyses of need, continue dialog with community interests, and…

The new model of community development focuses on the following: participatory methodologies of research; practical and generalist skills; local-driven revenues in small business and nongovernmental organizations; rethinking all products, processes, and services; international small business trade networks; and the integration of leisure and work.…

Presents a preliminary assessment of the prospects and options for developing income-generation programs in partnership with local small business associations, as suggested by the trend in Peru. (Author)

In Karachi, Pakistan, 4 resource personnel disseminated information about sanitation and breastfeeding in the prevention of gastroenteritis to 100 households. Compared to 100 that did not receive health information, the intervention group had less incidence of diarrhea and better use of oral rehydration salt. (SK)