Human history is dotted with examples of massive efforts to mobilize different human societies to achieve some set goals. Of late great success has been achieved around the world in the programmes like immunization, eradicating illiteracy, empowerment of the weak and the underprivileged, creating self managed institutions of the poor etc. One of the key elements responsible for this success has been the concept of community mobilisation, the process of bringing together all feasible and practical inter-sectoral social allies to raise people's awareness of and demand for a particular development programme, to assist in the delivery of resources and services and to strengthen community participation for sustainability and self-reliance.
Most development initiatives intend to reduce poverty and bring about better living conditions for local people. These intentions anticipate changes; usually expected to take place within and among the people themselves. The distance between good intentions and achieved changes; however, is often vast. The strategy for empowering the poor therefore should be embedded in the grassroots where the underdeveloped masses, so far reliant on informal organisations for their survival, are provided with formal access to the state through their own organisations.  For poverty eradication to be meaningful to the poor, it must be holistic. Community mobilisation provides a suitable framework for holism in development, first by catering to the needs and aspirations of the poor; and, second, by seeking to engineer social change on the basis of self-reliance. There is no one way to 'do' community mobilisation. Different organisations/agencies have developed different models for mobilising the community to accomplish different goals. In this book different models of community mobilisation, which the practioner of community mobilisation can adapt to suit the requirements of their clientele, have been presented for unleashing the potential of individuals and communities around the world.
This book would help the readers understand the meaning and concept of mobilisation, social/community mobilisation, process, approaches and models of social/community mobilisation. This is a "how-to" do book, intended for community mobilisers who want to stimulate social change in a community to work towards poverty eradication, good governance, increased transparency � in short community empowerment. This book identifies key steps in the community mobilisation process; it stresses the role and responsibility of the community leader or coordinator of an activity, community networks and other Civil Society groups, including local citizens.