Since the Localism Act became law earlier this year there have been encouraging signs and noises that parish and town councils "have the credibility to lead their communities".
Interestingly enough, the only leaders willing to talk don't lead their communities any more, or those communities have shut down.
If Mary Harriman were alive today, she would probably be surprised to see her organization promoted on YouTube, but she'd be proud that the Junior League, in its 108 years, has remained remarkably close to her founding vision: that women with energy and passion can lead their communities in change.
Several global organizations, including Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) and the Global Fund for Women, are working to empower women and youth by giving them confidence to lead their communities, express their rights and opinions, and become engaged in leadership positions in local governance.
This problem has been cause by the approach of the government, which is called Cadre Deployment where people because they can speak louder, are deployed into leadership positions and those people with merit, but because they don't speak louder around political slogans, they are denied the opportunities to lead their communities.
Women and men from Tuzohn district sang with joy as they led their visitors into the community and households.
As I write this, 28 countries across sub-Saharan Africa are deploying legions of health workers to lead in their communities on the front lines of this effort.
While Tostan has become known for our work in the abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC) and child/forced marriage, the greatest impact of our three-year comprehensive non-formal education and empowerment program is that it prepares communities to lead their own development, and does so across many areas, according to their own vision and priorities.
The project's philosophy was to encourage the community to lead their own development.
Barbara Nemeth, who lives about a mile up the brook from Mr. Earl, is from a community of 28 families around Glen Lake who were spared a break in their dam but were left stranded when a bridge over the brook, which leads to their community, was washed away.
