Discusses the increased interest in community development and the support for community-development training. Describes community-development training aimed at practitioners in the professional sector and at public servants in the bureaucratic sector. (JOW)

O'Gorman provides "Five Points for Reflection" on nongovernmental and community organizations in Brazil. Speyer and Tedrus discuss "Community Libraries: An Experience in Community Development in the Periphery of Sao Paulo." (SK)

Reviews discourses of citizenship in community development work: inactive citizens, the stucturalist critique of the welfare state, marketization (citizen as consumer), and democratic renewal through active citizenship. Suggests that community workers can serve as key agents in revitalizing the connections among community work, citizenship, and…

Explains and compares discrepancies exist between workers' estimated time and actual time. Analyzes why these discrepancies occur and their effects on routine practice. (JOW)

Gender as well as the structure of women's lives are important variables that must be included in social analysis. Although there appear to be linkages between community organizing theory and women's movement organizing, there has been insufficient interchange of ideas and challenge of the theoretical assumptions. (JOW)

Community work is critical pedagogy because it is located at the interface of liberation and domination. Community workers are situated either as perpetuators of the status quo or as agents of transformative change. (Contains 29 references.) (SK)

A study of participatory evaluation by learning teams at 10 rural sites of the Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities program showed the importance of separating indicators of participation from project impacts. Evaluation of three categories was recommended: citizen participation (process indicators), impact of participation on individuals and…

Through research on personal perspectives of community workers, the author has identified a gap between theory and practice in the area of community work. She argues that ideology is the bridging mechanism through which one explains and redevelops practice and defines the nature of the process. (CH)

Discusses a study of burnout among 25 community development practitioners. Indicates that those experiencing more severe forms of burnout were employed in grassroots staff positions. (JOW)

A study was conducted to determine whether the tenets of rural social work were applicable only to the developing countries or whether they were also meaningful in the context of other industrial nations of the West. (CT)

A survey of 26 human service agencies in an empowerment zone found the following: 73% used interns, few from social work; 57% used empowerment in mission statements (more economic than social agencies); 69% of these wanted community practice interns; and higher-budget agencies were better able to negotiate the empowerment zone system. (Contains 20…

Contradictory expectations facing community development practitioners include innovation versus bureaucratic accountability and professionalization versus grassroots activism. Four operating frameworks affect practice: charity, welfare state, activism, and market. In some instances, these frameworks and their related discourses are being fused,…

Includes "The Czech Republic" (Paula Jindrova); "Working with Romanies and Others in Bulgaria" (Victor Djorgov); and "The Picture in Romania" (Florian Nizu). (SK)

The emotional life of community organizations and their members has been neglected in community development, although it can have an impact at individual, societal, and micro-social levels. Both the instrumental tasks and the emotions of organizations must be addressed. Understanding group dynamics can create awareness of this dimension. (Contains…

An Irish community organization's experience of partnering with a government agency led to the following recommendations: train staff to understand the partnership process; refine structures for effective consultation and interaction; develop a code of practice and standards; improve communication; and adapt to new methods of working. (SK)