Community development: Alive in our memories or in our development efforts?

Community development was a very popular concept in Third World development a number of years ago although few people could explain what it really meant. This article discusses possible reasons for community development's early demise by pointing out certain weaknesses inherent in the literature and some misunderstandings among its proponents. It then traces currently popular concepts in rural development back to their community development origins to shown that although community development has lost its popularity some of its main principles are alive and well. Community development is a fairly recent arrival on the South African scene. It only gained in popularity here when it had already been severely criticized internationally. In the light of this a few thoughts are offered on its future in South Africa.