Worldwide, universities are considered assets for empowering local communities, hence making "community engagement" or "third mission of universities" popular. Community-university engagement has thus become a strategy for universities to generate, apply, use knowledge and other university resources outside academic environments. While arguments in this book indicate that universities have great potential to empower communities, it also remains largely true that communities also empower universities in many respects. The potential for each partner to contribute can be compromised when conditions necessary for success are not considered. Communities, for example, lose trust and resent exploitation of their resources when universities alone gain from these exchanges. Both parties should participate actively to contribute to national development agendas such as poverty reduction, illiteracy and youth unemployment, just to mention a few. An emphasis on social impact through community-university engagements exists as well. This is particularly needed where engagement agendas are traditionally underrepresented or marginalized in development activities. This book was inspired by the authors’ experiences as community development experts with special interest in development agendas that address social exclusion. When properly conceived, community-university engagements can offer unlimited benefits in respect to community empowerment. Different chapters of this book map out essential characteristics and conditions for effective engagements.
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