Local and Community Driven
Development : Moving to Scale in Theory and Practice

Services are failing poor urban and
rural people in the developing world, and poverty remains
concentrated in rural areas and urban slums. This state of
affairs prevails despite prolonged efforts by many
governments to improve rural and urban services and
development programs. This book focuses on how communities
and local governments can be empowered to contribute to
their own development and, in the process, improve
infrastructure, governance, services, and economic and
social development, that is, ultimately, the broad range of
activities for sustainable poverty reduction. Countries and
their development partners have been trying to involve
communities and local governments in their own development
since the end of Second World War, when the first colonies
gained independence in South Asia. Pioneers in both India
and Bangladesh (then a part of Pakistan) developed a clear
vision of how it will be done: local development should be
planned and managed by local citizens, their communities,
and their local governments within a clearly defined
decentralized framework that devolves real power and
resources to local governments and communities. Capacity
support will be provided by technical institutions and
sectors and nongovernmental institutions.