From Clients to Citizens
Communities Changing the Course of their Own Development

Edited by Alison Mathie ,  Gordon Cunningham
Foreword by John P. Kretzmann
Paper: 978 1 85339 673 1
Price: $39.95
Published: November 2008 

Publisher: Practical Action
400 pp., 6 1/4" x 9 1/8"
figures & photos
Communities worldwide act on their own initiative, drawing on their own resources of leadership and solidarity, and in spite of poverty, to achieve their own goals. Development practitioners have too often viewed poor communities as helpless and disadvantaged, and have encouraged their dependency. Yet if instead communities are recognized as having social and cultural as well as material assets, and these are what help them to overcome obstacles, then their capacity to negotiate external assistance on their own terms can be strengthened.

From the Moroccan villages that secured irrigation infrastructure with the help of returning migrants, to the Egyptian youth leaders who wanted a soccer pitch for their village, and the indigenous women’s cooperative in Ecuador that now exports medicinal plants, this book describes case studies of communities that first built on their own assets, before seeking assistance from outside. What are the common factors that help all these communities mobilize? Do outside organizations have a role to play when communities take charge of their own development?

From Clients to Citizens is aimed at community workers, researchers and policy makers who want to take a fresh look at community development


Table of Contents:
Foreword—John P. Kretzmann; Acknowledgements; Boxes; Figures; Tables; Acronyms; Contributors; Introduction; SECTION I: COMMUNITIES MOBILIZING ASSETS AND DRIVING THEIR OWN DEVELOPMENT 1) Possibilities for Income-Deprived But Capability-Rich Communities in Egypt—Waad El Hadidy; 2) God Created the World and We Created Conjunto Palmeira: Four Decades of Forging Community and Building a Local Economy in Brazil—Rogerio Arns Neumann, Alison Mathie, assisted by Joanne Linzey; 3) Building the Mercado Central: Asset Based Community Development and Community Entrepreneurship in the USA—Geralyn Sheehan; 4) The Jambi Kiwa Story: Mobilizing Assets for Community Development in Ecuador—Gordon Cunningham; 5) When Bamboo is Old, The Sprouts Appear: Rekindling Local Economies Through Traditional Skills in Hanoi, Vietnam—Jim Delaney and Nguyen Duc Vinh; 6) By Their Own Hands: Two Hundred Years of Building Community in St. Andrews, Nova Scotia, Canada—Gordon Cunningham and Kate Fiander; 7) The Hardware and Software of Community Development: Migrant Infrastructure Projects in Rural Morocco—Natasha Iskander and Nadia Bentaleb-Maes; 8) A Spreading Banyan Tree: The Self Employed Women’s Association, India—Martha Chen; 9) People’s Institutions as a Vehicle for Community Development: A Case Study from Southern India—Alison Mathie; 10) Jansenville Development Forum: Linking Community and Government in the Rural Landscape of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa—Susan Wilkinson-Maposa; SECTION II: ABCD IN ETHIOPIA, KENYAND THE PHILIPPINES 11) Stimulating Asset Based and Community Driven Development: Lessons from Five Communities in Ethiopia—Gordon Cunningham; 12) Reviving Self-Help: An NGO Promotes Asset Based Community Development in Two Communities in Kenya—Alison Mathie; 13) From DCA to ABCD: The Potential for Strengthening Citizen Engagement with Local Government in Mindanao, the Philippines—Alison Mathie; 14) Conclusion; Index.


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Reviews & Endorsements:
"This is a thoroughly enjoyable, original and readable book, using a range of rich case studies to explore the complex workings of community-led development initiatives."
- Jethro Pettit, Research Officer, Participation, Power and Social Change Team, IDS , University of Sussex
“A wonderfully insightful exploration of the new frontiers of community development, this books is must-read for students, teachers, activists and policy-makers alike.”
- Michael Edwards, Director, Governance and Civil Society , The Ford Foundation