In India development strategy is shifting toward recognition of the importance of initiative and the role of nongovernmental organizations. Revival of communitarianism (community volunteer action) is playing a major role in improvement of the rural environment. (SK)

Information and communications technologies have the potential to address community development issues, but initiatives to connect communities do not automatically ensure benefits. Social inclusion, identity, and power issues must be considered in design and implementation of initiatives. (SK)

Describes the residents' committee in China as a form of neighborhood organization that acts as a linking mechanism between the bureaucracy and ordinary citizens. Argues that the residents' committee can reflect community problems and needs to policymakers and, conversely, help the grassroots government explain or implement public policies. (CH)

This article highlights some issues raised at the 1985 Botswana workshop that focused on community financing of primary and secondary schools. Discusses mechanisms for raising resources (charges on pupils, resources from within the community, resources from outside the community), problems of quality and equity, and central guidance and control.…

Attempts to discover how and why community development has been used in the past, and to formulate some ideas on prospects for community development in the future. (CT)

Examines the perspectives and dimensions of social change and community development in rural United States. Argues that the causes of poverty must be reconceptualized, and emphasis placed on long-range institutionalized programs of community services, training, and citizen participation. (SK)

An internal learning system (ILS), created for a development organization operating savings/credit programs with poor women, is used for data collection, monitoring, and evaluation. The ILS is participatory, pictorial, decentralized, and flexible; it documents socioeconomic impact and supports action planning. (SK)

A survey of 100 farmers and 120 government development workers in India showed that farmers felt seeds, fertilizer, and relief employment were inadequate, while livestock feeding and soil/water conservation were helpful government interventions for drought. A large gap appeared between farmers' and government workers' perceptions of the…

Examines the implications of the Bhopal catastrophe and the organization by the consumer movement of a coalition of community action groups--The International Coalition for Justice in Bhopal--that links action in the developed and developing countries. (JOW)

Nongovernmental organizations in developing countries tend to depoliticize citizens. They must change their perception of their role, stop portraying themselves as nonaccountable, stop creating community businesses that do not incorporate the market, and admit a role for private industry. (SK)

Empowerment as social action addresses lack of control by enhancing participation in community action. An alcohol and substance abuse prevention program for New Mexico adolescents used Freire's problem posing and critical thinking philosophy and methods to empower young people to change their health behavior. (SK)

Introduction of cereal mills in Gambian villages affected the lives of women and their communities in terms of women's access to the technology, the time and energy it saves, its sustainability, and their level of control. The energy saved enabled greater participation in the community, but they were still constrained by illiteracy and poverty.…

A case study of health reform in British Columbia followed four health-planning groups' efforts to foster community participation by developing local community health plans. Findings from the case study can inform the theory and practice of community development. (JOW)

Describes experiences of a South African rural women's organization focused on preventive health care, exchange of knowledge and skills, and empowerment. (SK)

Despite the newly decentralized local government system in Ghana, communities have been slow to develop broad-based participatory consultative processes for community development. Inflexible bureaucracy also hinders involvement of stakeholders. (SK)