ABSTRACT
Drawing on the analysis of previous chapters and the author’s observations and refl ections, this concluding chapter exposes several complex challenges confronting community development practice in the Asia-Pacifi c region and presents a vision for that community development. The major challenges to community development include facing the existing leadership styles and entrenched community power structures, working with governance structures and related issues, changing unconducive political systems, initiating values/principles-based practice, narrowing the gaps between participatory policies and practices, meeting the basic needs without causing dependency, combining the old and new community development agendas, applying information technology, enlisting personnel for community work, coordinating efforts, applying for and distributing international or national aid, developing project agendas and meeting community needs, achieving quick results and tangible outcomes, and dealing with indigenous peoples and their lands, rural to urban migration and anti-diversity infl uences and trends. Despite these many challenges, the chapter argues that the vision for community development lies basically in value/principle-based practice, good and effective leadership, accommodation of diversity and utilization of a local level social development approach.
