Strengthening community-based organizations for the challenges of rural development

Though community-based organizations (CBOs) are small, informalorganizations, indications are that they provide various servicestowards the development of rural communities and can be usedas channels to route development information and other resourcesrequired to improve living conditions in rural communities.CBOs are, however, constrained from providing a more diverserange of services to their communities due to certain basicweaknesses. Leadership development, networking with both localand external organizations and registration with an officialpublic agency are identified and discussed as sustainable strategiesto strengthen CBOs, improve upon their service delivery standardsand place them in a position to tap available opportunitiesto develop the communities they are located in.