Aimed at development staff who work with the rural poor in developing nations, this book presents a coherent methodology for achieving development based on principles of conscientization, local control, cooperation, and self-reliance. Part I, Analysis (chapters 1-3), discusses theory. Chapter 1 reviews the most commonly held theories of poverty and then illustrates how poverty needs to be analyzed at the local level to respond to root causes rather than symptoms. Chapter 2 begins with a review of the more common theories of development and ends with an illustration of how development needs to be seen from the grassroots. Chapter 3 discusses the rationale for self-reliant participatory development. Part II, Action (chapters 4-9), looks at practice: the methodology of the self-reliant participatory approach to development. Topics of chapters 4-9 include agents of change, training and support of change agents, getting started, working with people, external relationships, and alternative sources of investment--savings, credit, and inputs. Part III, Reflection (chapters 10-11), is a summing up of the general objectives and the basic principles of self-reliant participatory development in chapter 10, while chapter 11 is a final cautionary chapter that attempts to analyze the obstacles, risks, and traps which practitioners may expect to encounter as well as the limitations of grassroots development in a hostile external environment. (Appendixes include questions for discussion divided by chapter, 78 references, and an index.) (YLB)