Community development in Indonesia : westernization or doing it their way?

This paper considers the claim that ideas and practices of international development, including community development, are embedded in Western notions of how to organize society. It elucidates some of the main precepts of the westernization thesis, and drawing on several studies of community development projects in Indonesia, it investigates what elements might be considered as ‘Western’ and whether the adoption of so-called Western ways is the result of the dominating power of international agencies or a pragmatic choice of active agents. The paper argues that the westernization thesis is problematic and does little to help us understand the complex interactions involving change at the community level. From a community development perspective, the question of whether the themes of westernization are appropriate is not a matter of the views of outside experts, but whether they are of use to the people at the grassroots in their collective endeavours.

An assessment of empowerment through highly participatory asset-based community development in Myanmar

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a highly participatory approach to development that seeks to empower communities to draw on tangible and social community assets to manage their own development. The strength of ABCD is its ability to facilitate people imagining their world differently, resulting in action to change their circumstances. Previous research has shown international non-government organisations have found highly participatory, community-led approaches to development to have been particularly effective forms of poverty mitigation and community empowerment within Myanmar, even before the current reforms, which is surprising given the restrictive socio-political context created by authoritarian rule by a regime with an international reputation for human rights violations. 

This paper documents ABCD programs within Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in Asia suffering major underdevelopment and ranking poorly across a wide range of socioeconomic indicators. It explores the operation, effectiveness and reasons behind the success of ABCD programs in this environment, and reflects on the role of outsiders in ABCD in the light of underlying theory and this contemporary experience. This research draws largely on recent field interviews and personal experience working in this sector within Myanmar, as well as surveying a number of evaluation reports which have been made publically available.

Towards unsettling community development

Community development was born out of a commitment to practising ways of empowering people to take collective control of their own lives. It requires profound changes in the ways in which societies are organized, and has held out the promise of heroic change. Although community development practitioners have been able to secure spaces for community development processes and policies, overall the successes of community development have been uneven and often quite modest. Indeed, the story of community development so far is one of the considerable unfinished businesses. Drawing on two research projects, this paper considers whether third-sector organizations, which are the main sites within which community development practice takes place, generate and nurture the types of active citizenship that are appropriate to community development activities. The paper develops a typology of active citizenship and considers manifestations of the types in seven countries. The applicability of the types to community development is dependent upon what form of community development is being considered. The paper argues that we need more than a settled form of community development based around social maintenance and defensive active citizenship. An unsettled and edgy community development is also needed that requires critical, proactive, visionary, cosmopolitan and active citizens who are prepared to challenge the existing power relations.

Community development today:engaging challenges through cosmopolitanism?

This article begins by outlining some of the challenges and opportunities for community development theory and practice today. Some of these have been present from the 1960s and 70s, some have been evident for several decades, others are new and some demand urgent attention. The second part of the paper notes three types of responses to the challenges. It argues the case for embracing one specific response, namely a deepening of a cosmopolitan outlook in both the theory and practice of community development. While acknowledging that community development is in someways already a cosmopolitan endeavour, the paper concludes with a call for exploration of the ways in which embracing a broader and deeper cosmopolitanism might enhance community development as it responds to contemporary challenges.

Book review : Community development in theory and practice : an international reader

Book review of Community Development in Theory and Practice: An International Reader. Edited by G. Craig, K. Popple and M. Shaw.

Shanghai's western townscape and changing perceptions of cultural heritage in China

[No Abstract]

The costs of a community-based intervention to promote maternal health

The costs of community-level interventions are rarely reported, although such insights are needed if intervention research is to be useful to practitioners seeking to understand what might be involved in replicating interventions in different contexts. We report the costs of a 2-year community-based intervention to promote the health of recent mothers in Victoria, Australia. Program of Resources, Information and Support for Mothers was an integrated programme of primary care and community-based strategies. It had health care professional training, health education and community development components as well as an emphasis on creating ‘mother-friendly’ environments. Costs included the programme costs [primarily the salaries of the community development officers (CDO) in the field] and also ‘induced’ costs that relate to the CDOs' successes in attracting additional resources to the intervention from the local community. The total cost averaged A$272 490 per rural community and A$313 900 per urban community, equivalent to A$172.40 and A$128.70 per mother, respectively. For every A$10 of public funds initially invested in the project, the CDOs were able to attract a further A$1–2 worth of local resources, predominantly in the form of volunteer time or donated services.

The role of sustainability in community and regional development in Europe

Regions around the world are focusing on sustainability as an elemental and critical part of their economic survival. The aim of this paper is to examine how sustainability drives community and regional development in Europe. It begins by defining sustainability and the different contexts in which it has come to be understood. A case study methodology is then used to examine how cities like Cologne, Germany have fostered sustainability. Entrepreneurship and its role in community development are also addressed. It concludes with policy implications as well as the potential significant impact on businesses and communities in the United States.

Quo vadis, Delhi? Urban heritage and gender: towards a sustainable urban future

Historic architectural heritage is important to sustainable urban planning policy, particularly in cities that have heritage sites and/or themselves have ancient archaeological value. Delhi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. However, the vision of its planning policy is limited to valuing heritage for itself and for its economic value instead of also exploring the ways in the city’s heritage might contribute to the social organisation and utilisation of the urban public space. Particularly, like most national policy documents on heritage, it ignores the heritage/gender nexus, which has implications for the identity and status of women in Delhi, community development and ecological preservation. But twenty women practioners and scholars of development in Delhi referred to heritage as a challenge as well as opportunity for gender and urban sustainability when asked for their perspectives on the most important sustainability issues in the city. I argue that Delhi’s urban planning strategies must acknowledge the gender/heritage nexus to enable holistic and gender-inclusive urban development for the present and future generations of its citizens, which is an important thrust of the sustainability agenda.

Microfinance best practice : ten parameters of success for development NGOs

Experience has shown that development NGOs typically do not succeed in transforming themselves into financially sustainable providers of financial intermediation services. The reasons for this failure are complex (see Dichter 1999). Nonetheless, the role that NGOs play as microfinance providers is important and the contribution they could make to poverty reduction would be greatly enhanced if they adhered to some simple but essential parameters of success.

New community governance in small rural towns: the Australian experience

State and federal governments in Australia have developed a range of policy instruments for rural areas in Australia that are infused with a new sense of ‘community’, employing leading concepts like social capital, social enterprise, community development, partnerships and community building. This has encouraged local people and organisations to play a greater role in the provision of their local services and has led to the development of a variety of ‘community’ organisations aimed at stemming social and economic decline. In Victoria, local decision-making, before municipal amalgamations, gave small towns some sense of autonomy and some discretion over their affairs. However, following municipal amalgamations these small towns lost many of the resources—legal, financial, political, informational and organisational—associated with their former municipal status. This left a vacuum in these communities and the outcome was the emergence of local development groups. Some of these groups are new but many of them are organisations that have been reconstituted as groups with a broader community focus. The outcomes have varied from place to place but overall there has been a significant shift in governance processes at community level. This paper looks at the processes of ‘community governance’ and how it applies in a number of case studies in Victoria.