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Action research on leadership for community development in West Africa and North America: A joining of liberation theology and community psychology
Author(s) -
Trout John,
Dokecki Paul R.,
Newbrough J. R.,
O'Gorman Robert T.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.10043
Subject(s) - spirituality , community development , community psychology , community organization , action research , community organizing , community building , sense of community , sociology , leadership development , action (physics) , community engagement , socioeconomic status , economic growth , political science , public relations , social science , psychology , social psychology , law , pedagogy , population , medicine , demography , economics , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics
Our purpose is to enhance the field's understanding of the nature of community leadership, the psychological sense of community, and the spiritual dimensions of community life. We describe an action research community development project conducted in a low‐income Catholic parish in Lagos, Nigeria, in Western Africa. After describing the community development process that resulted in the establishment of 40 small/street basic communities (SBCs), we report an evaluation study in which 70 SBC leaders were surveyed regarding (1) SBC background characteristics (socioeconomic and environmental conditions and statistical information), (2) the state of community life in the SBCs (spirit/sense of community, participation in activities, benefits of community life), and (3) challenges for the future (what SBC members and leaders can do to improve the community, problems influencing community development). We then reflect on the Lagos findings in light of leadership‐for‐community and spirituality frameworks developed in an action research project conducted in a Catholic parish in the United States. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.