GSLL 1509 - Political Empowerment and Community Development

This course looks at the political aspects to bottom-up approaches and village-based development initiatives, specifically the concept of political empowerment of community-based organizations in development. The course includes studying community relations with government entities as well as other "governance organizations" such as large development practitioners, international donors, and entities which play a role in linking communities to resources.

A case-study approach looks at examples of how communities have been both successful and unsuccessful in their interactions with "governance organizations". Upon completion, participants will be able to:

• Understand concepts relating to political empowerment
• Compare cases & evaluate strategies and effectiveness
• Design a strategy for their specific community
• Understand governmental structures and their relevance in community-based development

This course can be applied towards the:

• Community-Based Development Certificate

Noncredit courses do not produce academic credit nor appear on a Colorado State University academic transcript.

Instructors

Christine Wheatley
(970) 491-5754
christine@villageearth.org

Christine Wheatley has her MA in sociology with an emphasis in international development. Her current work with Village Earth focuses on developing and expanding the Purulia Micro-finance Initiative in West Bengal, India.

Christine specializes in survey, evaluation, and ethnographic research methods, community capacity building, issues of development in indigenous communities, and local governance. She has conducted research on economic/community development in indigenous and impoverished communities in Mexico, Tanzania, and India.

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