It is a story about the two sons of the first man, Adam, one of whom is a tiller of vegetables, the other of whom is a herder of animals.

The story is seen by many anthropologists as a myth that explains the origin of the ongoing conflict between tillers and herders, as their modes of production are incompatible with each others allocation of land.
Tillers need secure, enclosed plots of land, while herders need unfettered, wide areas of land.

The conflict is seen as at the root of many wars between communities, such as the farmers and cattle raisers during the opening up of North and South America, the civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, and many more.
 

See Elements of Strength for a list of sixteen elements of capacity development.

The difference between capacity development and capacity building lies with the conception of where the force of growth originates.

The term "capacity building" implies that some agency outside the community or organisation supplies the energy to increase its capacity.

It is informed by the concept of "social engineering."

The term "capacity development," in contrast, implies that the energy for growth is internal to the community or organisation.

See the slogan by Julius Nyerere; a community develops itself.
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Usually marriage between members of different castes (which would de facto mean social mobility) is prohibited.  The main difference between caste and class is the degree of permissable social mobility.

The most well known example of caste is the system of inequality associated with India, especially among Hindus because Islam and Bahai prohibit the practice of caste.  In spite of those prohibitions, caste is informally practiced or is represented as class differences by non Hindus in India.

Because caste implies assignment of level at birth, and the prohibition of social mobility, it is also applied to racial inequality as in the southern United States, and the Apartheid system as it was practiced in South Africa.

Apart from the marriage prohibitions, the division of communities into male or female, and masculine or feminine (sex and gender) can also be considered a caste system, especially where there are identifiable difference in power, prestige and wealth, and that individuals may not easily move from one to the other.
 

When a couple have a sexual relationship without benefit of formality or public ritual (as in marriage) their relationship is said to be "casual."

Do not confuse this with the word "causal."
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It usually speeds up the process. The word, therefore, is a good one to describe a mobilizer or social animator.

The mobilizer does not develop or change a community.

The community develops or changes itself.

The mobilizer stimulates that change, without becoming part of the social organization of the community.

Most importantly, the mobilizer provides temporary leadership, without becoming a community leader.
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This is a relationship between two variables where a change in one is seen to be the "cause" of a change in the other. This is an epistemological problem for scientists.

When heat is applied to some material, for example, the molecules in that material tend to move faster.

We assume that the application of heat (the "causing" or independent variable) somehow "causes" the increase in movement of molecules (the "caused" or dependent variable).

Sociologists have known that (although suicide is very difficult to predict for any individual) rates of suicide are very predictable.

Where the population has a greater proportion of Catholics, or practising Catholics (measured by church attendance), the suicide rate tends to be lower.

Where divorce is more difficult (as measured by laws and divorce rates), the rate of suicides by married women tends to be higher.

We have no epistemological reason, however, to say that those observations prove that restrictions against divorce (the independent or causing variable) "causes" an increase in propensity to suicide (the dependent or caused variable) among married women, or that Catholicism "causes" lower rates of suicides (there may simply be lower reporting rates, for example).

See: "because." Do not confuse this with the word, "casual." or "causality" with "casualty." See: Problems of Prediction and Cause.
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For a mobilizer, celebration of completion of a community project is an important element of community empowerment, where the community is publicly recognized for successfully engaging in self-help.

It is also an opportunity to start a new beginning, another mobilization cycle.

See Mobilization Cycle.  See Celebration.
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The helping of poor or needy people is a universal value, and found in all the major world religions.  But there is giving and giving.

If your gift makes the receiver dependent upon you, then you are not helping to strengthen the receiver, nor helping him or her become more self reliant.

When you give some coins to a beggar on the street, then you are training that person to be more of a beggar.

If your assistance is well thought out, and helps to strengthen the receiver (see the story of Mohammed and the rope in Stories), then it is a much more useful gift.
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There are no universally agreed measurements for these three variables, so dorps, hamlets and villages lay near one end of the spectrum and cities and mega-cities lay near the other end, with towns and peri-urban settlements in between.

These three variables affect methods of community strengthening. (Also see Village).
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That may be an appropriate approach in some situations, and is often seen as "civic engagement" rather than as "community participation."

The methodology in these modules (developed mainly in Africa) sees the bringing of those authorities on side is more likely to lead to sustainability and a consistent national policy and programme of poverty elimination.
 

It is pictured as a set of layers, like a geological formation of a former lake bed, running horizontally.

It differs from caste (which see) in that there are mechanisms available for social mobility, moving up and down between the various classes, although those mechanisms may be more apparent than real. Inequality between the classes is composed of power, prestige and wealth.
 

Colours are not intrinsic to the things we see, but is a response in ourselves to the frequency of light bouncing off them.

Differences in colours are within our optical and nervous systems.
We have no way of knowing that what you see as "red" is what I see as "red" even when we describe the same item by the same colour name (red). 

See "Three Souls." Colour is very important in the cosmology of Akan people.

Skin colour is often used to distinguish visible minorities which are then called "races." 

This is highly unscientific.
There are no biological categories of race or colour.

There is more variation in skin colour on a single person than between the colours of persons designated in indifferent races. No boundaries.

Race and colour are social categories. 

Different languages put different boundaries around colours.
Observations of variations in colour naming systems led to the development of the Sapir-Whorf hypotheses that states we learn to perceive and understand reality by the language we learn.
 

As with agriculture and gathering (the production of food), the consumption of food has immense influence on culture and society.
As well as the choice of foods, and its preparation for eating, the choice of who eats with whom, when it is eaten, on what occasions, and what social implications, are all important cultural variables.

The word is based on the classic term, mensa, meaning table.
 

These are the degree to which members of the community share values, especially the idea that they belong to a common entity that supersedes the interest of members within it.

The more that community members share, or at least understand and tolerate, each others values and attitudes, the stronger their community will be. Racism, prejudice and bigotry weaken a community or organization.

When stimulating a community to organize and act, the mobilizer needs to be aware of the role of common values in empowering that community or organization.
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It differs from community empowerment which means growing stronger.
Although the two are different by definition, they are intricately linked to each other.

Community development which is conceived and pushed from outside the community is unlikely to be sustained. If it comes from within a community, it is more likely to be sustained.

When a community develops, it grows.  See the word, Development. It does not necessarily mean getting bigger or getting richer.  It means getting more complex and stronger. Think of an acorn as a metaphor.  When an acorn grows, it does not become a house sized acorn (picture it).  It developes into something more complex, an oak tree.

A community does not get developed by a mobilizer any more than a flower grows taller by someone pulling it up.  A community (as a social institution) develops itself.  A mobilizer can only stimulate, encourage and guide members of the community.

Some people assume that community development simply means getting richer –– an increase in per capita wealth or income. It can be, but is more.

It is social change, where a community becomes more complex, adding institutions, increasing its collective power, changing qualitatively in its organization.

Community development means growing in complexity in all six dimensions of culture.  It differs from community empowerment which means growing stronger. Although the two are different by definition, they are intricately linked to each other.
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It is more than just adding some communal services or facilities like roads, sanitation, water, access to education and health care.

It means increased ability and strength. It means more skills, more confidence, and more effective organization.

It can not come about by charity or donation of resources from outside. It can be facilitated through action such as community projects, but only when all community members become involved from the beginning, to decide upon a community action, to identify hidden resources from within the community, and by developing a sense of ownership and responsibility of communal facilities from the start to the finish.

While increased democratization may be helped by Government devolving some law making power to the community, its capacity to make use of its legal decision making depends upon it having practical capacity, ie the ability to make decisions about its own development, to determine its own future. Power, strength, capacity, ability, empowerment.

Community development means growing in complexity in all six dimensions of culture.  It differs from community empowerment which means growing stronger. Although the two are different by definition, they are intricately linked to each other.
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Community Project Committee. Community Implementation Executive. Development Committee. This is the executive organisation at village level that carries out construction or maintenance of a communal facility or service.
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This web site contains many modules, each of which includes a half dozen or so training documents. Together they represent the content of a curriculum for training mobilizers and related professionals working to empower low income communities.

A summary and description of this curriculum material is in the document Framework for a Community ManagementTraining Curriculum, which can be used for planning a programme for strengthening low income communities.
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