Community leadership: A comparison between asset-based community-led development (ABCD) and the traditional needs-based approach

A comparison study was undertaken between the asset-based community-led development (ABCD) approaches versus the traditional needs-based approach to community development relating to community leadership. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 24 community projects in South Africa for the study, of which 14 were sensitised to ABCD and 10 were not. The kind of community leadership developed in ABCD communities enabled communities to lead their own development by co-investing their own assets, and leveraging their assets with resources from external agencies. In comparison, although development took place, the leadership that emerged in the needs-oriented projects was more authoritarian in nature, and in some instances, seemed to establish a dependency on external agencies. Community leadership that contributes to projects that were more driven by community members complements the principles of appreciative leadership, which were more evident in ABCD-sensitised communities.     

Integrated rural development programmes: A historical perspective

The pervasive poverty in rural areas has represented a continuing concern of national governments and development assistance agencies. One response to pervasive poverty has been the design of local institutions to enable rural communities to mobilize their own resources to generate growth and improve the quality of life. Programmes organized under the rubric of ‘community development’ were a major focus of development assistance during the 1950s and early 1960s. During the early 1970s concern about the distributional implications of economic growth again emerged as a major theme in development thought and development policy. This concern gave rise to two new development assistance approaches — ‘integrated rural development’ and ‘basic needs’ programmes. In this paper, I attempt to trace the development, accomplishments and limitations of the community development, integrated rural development and basic needs approaches.     

We want to live a better life like other people: Self-assessed development needs of rural women in Ndwedwe,KwaZulu-Natal

This case study was conducted in two tribal wards in the Ndwedwe district of KwaZulu-Natal and was designed to gain a better understanding of how rural women see their role in development, a role which is acknowledged by the new government. Focus group discussions with 40 local women covered their perceptions of community development roles, successful community projects, development needs and feelings of empowerment. Perceived development priorities differed according to standard of living. The women from the better serviced Mavela ward cited piped water and electricity in the home as important development needs. For the women living in the remoter Cibane ward more basic needs such as safe water, housing and access roads were priorities. Women involved in successful gardening projects were bolder in making demands for government assistance in bringing infrastructure development to their area, suggesting gains in empowerment. Generally, the women aspired to levels of service provision similar to those found in the city but stated that they could not afford to pay the installation costs. Their strong commitment to a rural lifestyle prompted the women to call for government support to make their own efforts to develop their rural communities worthwhile.     

Beyond community participation? Alternative routes to civil engagement and development in South Africa

Although community participation still enjoys a high level of support across various sectors in South Africa, its practice is fraught with conceptual and practical difficulties. This paper starts out by examining some of the problems and limitations associated with community participation, including the heterogeneity and fragmentation of many poor communities, the lack of social and material resources and community members' expectations of receiving a return from their involvement in development projects. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) or participatory learning and action (PLA) is used as an example to illustrate some of the conceptual and theoretical limitations that characterise most approaches to participatory development. In particular it is argued that approaches such as PRA/PLA lack the theoretical basis for effectively getting to grips with the problems of participatory development. What is needed is a conceptual framework not only to understand the responses of communities, but also to locate such communities within their socio-economic contexts. The second part of the paper therefore examines three developments in social science theory that may be able to contribute to the development of a richer conceptual framework for popular participation. These are the concept of social capital, the asset-based approach to development, and the debate around the role of the state in development.     

Health and development: The Venda care group organisation

Health is one of the crucial problems confronting the development of Third World countries. Community‐based primary health care is the best instrument for mobilising community development.Development through health, however, can only be achieved if primary health care is implemented in a comprehensive approach in which a supportive environment and living conditions are as important as the provision of health care services. The Venda care group organisation, like other village health workers, is involved in primary health care and community development in the communities of the care groups. Such supportive community‐based organisations are able to alleviate health and development problems at the grass roots provided that programmes and activities are based on community participation, self‐reliance and the development of local decision‐making and leadership skills. The degree of success of the Venda care group organisation in achieving these objectives was investigated.     

论公民游行示威权利的法律保障

游行示威是公民一种合法的表达自己内心诉求向政府提出自身意向的手段和方法.近年来,随着社会的发展以公民自我意识的觉醒,越来越多的民众认识到对自我权利保障的重要性,随着当今国际社会的发展,我国贫富差距加大,每民众,地区和群体都有自身相对独立的经济需求,而这种经济需求逐渐转化为政治诉求,许多针对中国本身的国际事件也触动了很多...     

失地农民与企业社会责任

在工业化下,农民失去土地成为了常态,企业是市场经济的强者而失地社区则是弱者。在这二者之间能否协调发展?本文系统调查了日照市开发区发展的情况,系统分析了失地农民的困难处境,并对存在于失地农民、村级社区、企业和当地政府之间的互动关系进行了研究,最后提出发挥企业社会责任感是帮助失地社区发展的重要途径。     

Rural development interventions — A behavioural perspective

From their review of the literature on rural development, the authors believe that inadequate attention is paid to the behavioural bases of the intervention process and to ways of understanding complex motivational processes within communities. Two models are suggested as tools for categorizing resistances to change and pressures for change in relation to traditional communities, and as a conceptual framework for explaining motivational processes. The first area of intervention draws on Lewin's force‐field analysis model as a means of categorizing pressures for and resistances to change. The second area, that of motivation, uses Vroom's expectancy model to analyse community motivational patterns.     

Inter‐communal institutions in medieval trade

This article examines the institutional structure of medieval overseas trade to explain why trade thrived even in the absence of the state. The literature has dealt mainly with intra‐coalition or intra‐community relations. However, the literature does not answer the question of how institutions could be created that could support interaction between a large number of distant communities and between merchants who did not necessarily know one another. This article presents such an institution that prevailed in the Baltic Sea region in the late middle ages, referred to here as the inter‐communal conciliation mechanism. In case of a dispute, conciliation took place between town councils, rather than the merchants involved in the dispute, thus combining individual liability and communal enforcement. Exploration of the documents reveals a task‐specific regularity of behaviour, which was the general practice among merchants to turn to the council of their own community when they had problems in a foreign town, instead of being obliged to solve disputes by themselves. This institution provided a permanent, centralized, and relatively impartial enforcement mechanism to respond to breaches. It was therefore well adapted to large, at least partially anonymous markets, such as the Baltic Sea region, with dozens of towns and thousands of merchants.     

Education and development in the South African context

In line with international experience it is now widely accepted in South Africa that education has an important role to play in development, particularly of socio‐economically disadvantaged communities, although there is less certainty now than in the sixties as to what that role is. It cannot be governed solely by the manpower needs of the economy: men and women have their own equally important needs. Nor can this role be effective as long as education is equated with formal schooling, particularly where the schooling of the majority in society has been neglected over a long period. While the formal education system is undergoing reform and regeneration, and attention is being given to the critical issues of equality of opportunity and the legitimacy of the system, it is imperative that high priority should be given to non‐formal adult education. In all fields of education there is a need to give greater thought to issues of relevance and quality, rather than to seek salvation in “more of the same”.     

高职院校开展农民工培训的定位与对策

高职院校开展农民工培训既是其实现社会服务功能的需要,又是自身可持续发展的需要。相对于其他培训机构,高职院校开展农民工培训具备一定优势,又面临诸多制约。高职院校需要更新观念,增强为农民工服务的意识;健全监督机制,加大对农民工培训的经费投入;科学合理地设置课程和安排内容;加强双师型教师队伍建设;采取灵活多样的培训机制,积极开展农民工培训,提升培训质量,服务社会需要。     

Agricultural development through contract agents ‐ appropriate for smallholders?

Agriculture in developing areas of South Africa has undergone much experimentation as recommended by academics and administrators. Notwithstanding the latest moves towards a more representative government, which may usher in the rediscovery of individual initiative, present policies are largely responsible for the underdeveloped state of agriculture among the black community. The top‐down approach (whose existence is denied by policy‐makers) is evident even in quasi‐govemment and private agricultural management agencies. This and the wanton control of resources by these institutions has led to retreat by small‐scale farmers. Promotion of agriculture in the black community through highly centralised, administered projects has proved unappealing. The country's policy‐makers have not taken heed of the argument that ‘The poorer and more exposed one is, the more one becomes aware of sustainable survival techniques. If an outsider tells one how to survive, then that is the start of one's downfall.     

我国社区学院发展机制研究

社区学院发展机制既是社区学院持续健康发展的重要保证,又是提高社区学院社会服务能力和品牌影响力的重要策略。文章梳理了我国社区学院发展现状与问题,围绕建设学习型社会的目标与社区学院发展的定位,基于政府宏观引导、社区具体推动、社会团体积极参与、企业倾力支持和学院自主建设的社区学院发展"五元驱动"思路,从定位、管理、教学等方面设计运行机制和从立法、评估、经费等方面设计保障机制。     

新形势下我国油田社区经济发展的思考

油田社区是油田企业重组改制、深化改革的必然产物，承担着城市社区建设的所有职能。油田社区经济是推动油田发展的后方力量，具有提高社区居民生活水平、吸纳富余人员、稳定社区等多重作用。我国油田社区发展至今已初具规模，但从整体上看，由企业办社会而存在的弊端也是不容忽视的。加快体制改革，完善社区经济组织建设应成为我国现阶段发展油田社区经济的重点。     

Institutional Pluralism and Housing Delivery: A Case of Unforeseen Conflicts in Mumbai, India

This paper demonstrates how institutional pluralism in the delivery of housing can evoke major disagreements and ultimately conflict between different stakeholders. The case study focuses on a case of slum redevelopment in Mumbai and shows how a major nongovernment organization (NGO) became involved in conflicts with the other stakeholders, including private market actors, government agencies and even the community group. But, these conflicts did not necessarily have only negative impacts. Under certain conditions, such as when property values were booming in Mumbai, communities can actually benefit from such conflicts.     

Constructing migration: Infrastructure,poverty and development in KwaZulu‐Natal

Migration and population movement are probably the most neglected of the significant dynamics behind rural poverty in South Africa. Little is known about how people move from place to place, and much of what we thought we knew may be incorrect. In KwaZulu‐Natal job search is no longer the single dominating reason given for migration. Instead, infrastructure ties with it for first place today, with land close behind. The first article in this two‐part report notes that as many as two thirds of the province's disadvantaged families have broken away from their communities of origin and moved at least once during their lifetimes. Perhaps three million have migrated in the last fifteen years. A second unexpected finding is the predominance of rural‐to‐rural migration. Three quarters of all moves recorded were rural to rural, with many orientated towards advantaged rural areas around small towns and secondary cities. Results show how streams are channelled towards poverty or opportunity, and argue for a review of prevailing concepts of rural‐urban relations which structure delivery efforts. The second article, to follow later, notes that recorded income levels are now higher in some rural destination areas than in the urban shack communities that accommodate rural‐to‐urban migrants. Results of various studies presented show how access to information affects migration patterns, and the article also explores the role of infrastructure as a determining force in the regional distribution of population and as a factor in people's own bootstrap anti‐poverty efforts.     

Land and development at Indaleni: A historical perspective

This paper reviews the history of land allocation, land use and also some of the major attempts made over the last century to introduce change and what is now popularly referred to as development at Indaleni, a black community which is predominantly Zulu, but where there has been a strong white mission presence for over a hundred years. It is argued that the missionaries and colonial administrators of the last century were the forerunners of many of the interest groups active in the development field at Indaleni and elsewhere in KwaZulu/Natal today. Although the aims of intervention have changed, the high‐handed methods and above all the certainty with which many outsiders approach ‘development’ has not. Chronicled also are white attitudes to granting freehold land tenure to blacks in Natal and consideration is given to the reasons why the first missionaries to work at Indaleni failed to achieve their aim of not only converting local people to Christianity, but of equipping them with skills to compete with whites in an integrated social and economic community.     

城市智慧社区建设标准化审视

随着新一代信息技术的发展及其在城市社区的应用，智慧社区成为社区建设的重要趋势。但当前各地方建设标准差异较大，智慧社区建设规范性不足，后期复制推广与治理困难，进一步制约着智慧社区建设。需要在明确当前智慧社区总体框架的基础上，结合实践与治理需求，从技术、内容、机制多个维度，即智慧社区基础设施、智慧社区治理与服务、智慧社区保障机制3个层面构建智慧社区标准体系框架。加强智慧社区建设标准化，需要加强顶层设计，用系统思维研制智慧社区的标准体系，需要促进多元主体协同参与，进一步创新智慧社区标准化建设的体制机制。     

论和谐社会和高校图书馆建设

和谐社会是高校图书馆建设的前提,文化建设是构建和谐社会的重要内容,高校图书馆应该以自身具有的优势资源为基础,以服务所在社区为切入点,努力发挥其辐射力和影响力,积极投入到和谐社会的建设中去。     

Community Development Credit Unions: Securing and Protecting Assets in Black Communities

Credit Unions, with a hundred year history, and Community Development Credit Unions (CDCUs), with a 30–40 year history of serving the under-served, have only recently begun to be recognized by some of the media and the progressive community as “safe havens” and fair lenders. There is little independent, academic research, however, that investigates and evaluates the ways that credit unions are community-rooted and responsive to local needs, and/or their achievements in this area. This paper reports on preliminary qualitative research this author has conducted to help us understand how community development credit unions in Black communities in the U.S. provide affordable financial services, and especially help their clients/members to preserve assets. Major findings include: all CDCUs note that they charge lower rates for their products, and provide higher interest or dividends when possible; both which enable members/customers to save money and build assets. CDCUs work closely with their members to personalize services, to help them avoid loans they cannot afford, and to educate them enough to make sound financial decisions and preserve their assets. Many give some direct options to their members to avoid “payday loans” with check cashing and other predatory lenders. In addition, most CDCUs are deeply involved in their communities, and the bigger ones actually provide donations, encourage their employees to volunteer in the community and are generous employees (creating jobs with benefits and job ladder opportunities). Some are able to help finance affordable housing and contribute to other community economic development projects.