Restrictions on communal involvement Limits on participation in community development
Nature:
Regardless of their degree of concern, members of communities often find their ability to participate severely restricted by material and cultural restraints.
Incidence:
Traditionally, the primary centre of corporate life is the clan or extended family, so that large gatherings of villagers occur only at feasts and holidays celebrated by the wider group. Working together in the fields, meeting along the roads or in the home are the only other, informal gatherings within a village. Most families and individuals are burdened by the weight and expenditure of time related to subsistence living, and crowded homes and family size exceeding income capacity increase the obstacles to community engagement. For example, schools are conducted with little adult involvement (partially due also to adult illiteracy), yet the relevance and responsiveness of such an institution depends on the involvement of the parents and other adults of the village.