Community Work

The current obsession with globalization issues has tended to ignore pertinent issues at the local level. It is the recognition of this that we have thought of coming up with a reader on community organization and action. The aim of the author in writing this reader is to provide a meaningful theoretical framework for community analysis and demonstrate its practical application to community development. At its core, community development produces assets that increase the capacity of residents to improve their quality of life. Assets include physical capital, human capital, social capital, financial capital and environmental capital. The reader is structured around how communities can build on these assets. We limit our discussion in the course to communities of place rather than to communities of interest. Although much of our focus is on community development efforts in Kenya, many of the principles and concepts should apply to other settings as well.