Self-governance

Crafting Institutions for Self-Governing Irrigation Systems (English)
Elinor Ostrom

Many large-scale irrigation projects established in developing countries have failed - despite huge inputs of foreign aid - because the institutions for operating and maintaining the projects proved inadequate. Ostrom counsels planners to look beyond a narrow concern with engineering and to let irrigation consumers involve themselves in the design, operation, and maintenance of water-supply systems. Also available in Spanish: Diseno de Instituciones Para Sistemas de Riego Auto-Gestionarios.

Paperback, 128pp, ISBN: 1-55815-168-0, $19.95

Owning the Dream
Triumph & Hope in the Projects
Flagg Taylor and Robert Hawkins, Jr.

Owning the Dream is the inspirational story of men and women taking back control of their neighborhoods. Through self-governing principles and entrepreneurial activity, public housing residents are radically transforming their surroundings, seizing economic opportunities, breaking down the barriers that have isolated them from the community at large, and saving their families. Owning the Dream is a model and inspiration for us all.

Paperback, 100pp, ISBN: 1-55815-293-8, $19.95

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Public Administration and the Conduct of Community Affairs Among the Yoruba of Nigeria
S. Bamidele Ayo

The Yoruba people have developed and designed institutional responses that address their basic needs and common problems. This book focuses on the ways by which such diverse institutional arrangements among the Yoruba - the family, age-sets, community development associations, traditional political organizations, and local economic organizations such as associations of market-women - govern relationships among people in villages and local communities. Life does not stop with the the failure of the state.

Paperback, 265pp, Indexed, ISBN: 1-55815-523-6, $23.95