Assessing community conditions that facilitate implementation of participatory poverty reduction strategies

Abstract

The study describes organizational and institutional foundations within traditional rural communities that can facilitate implementation of participatory community poverty reduction programs. The focus was on communities within or adjacent to protected areas. Not surprisingly, community groups with the highest potential as implementing agents have strong ties to traditional institutions, suggesting that groups with well recognized power and legitimacy within the community are better positioned to facilitate implementation of community poverty eradication initiatives. A number of indicators of community competence were identified, useful for developing an analytical framework that can be used as a diagnostic tool for determining community competence.