The Belgian government funds one central community development institute and eight regional institutes. Challenges include an increasingly multicultural society, emphasis on the integration of ethnic-cultural minorities, and decentralized decision making. A broader social role for community development is being recognized. (SK)

Describes the endeavor by the Chinese Communist Party to construct a community-based, urban welfare system that would cater to the needs of urban dwellers who were not under the protection of the workers' social assistance system or whose needs could not be met entirely by it. (CT)

In the slums of Medellin, Colombia, a program seeks to improve children's physical health, intellectual development, and self-concept through such activities as carpentry, breadmaking, and sports and literature clubs. These activities help develop ethical and moral values, planning and organizing skills, and a future orientation. (SK)

A community restaurant begun in Montreal by 12 welfare recipients has provided jobs and inexpensive meals and served community interests. It attempts to integrate social and economic development, operating not primarily as a job training program but as a community-based, socially useful business. (SK)

An extension program sponsored by the Venezuelan government attempted to change a rural area's shifting cultivation system into one that produced cash crops. The program's failure was due in part to the lack of understanding on the part of the extension agents regarding the communities' traditional resource use systems. (LH)

The article discusses the findings of a study of a one-year pilot program to determine if the general objectives of community centers could be achieved as effectively and as efficiently in school buildings as in community centers housed in their own buildings. (Author/BP)