Community Initiatives in Education: Goals, dimensions and linkages with governments

Recent years have brought increasing advocacy of community participation in education. This has been a particularly common theme in policy documents, not only of governments but also of international agencies. Among the main goals has been a desire to spread the burden of resourcing, though advocates also commonly have in mind the volume, relevance and impact of schooling. However, policies often fail to differentiate between different types of communities. Further, the communities' knowl edge bases and motives for engaging in educational work may be very different from the governments'. Thus, while in some situations communities and governments collaborate in harmony, other situations lead to dissonance. This paper notes experiences in a range of countries, and stresses the need for policies to take account of the diversity of circumstances.