Introduction

The Introduction to this book on Integrated Community-Managed Development starts from the premise that at the beginning of the 21st Century humankind is facing a global poverty crisis, where so far the various approaches from international and national organisations to reduce poverty worldwide have virtually failed. Despite increasing economic investments of the World Bank, USAID and national governments to fight poverty with largely economically-oriented financial policies and programmes, implemented by commercial banks, credit institutions and MFIs, the number of poor and low-income families surviving on less than two dollars a day is not decreasing as had been hoped for and projected. Based on the positive experience of the integration of the ‘Cultural Dimension’ into the ‘Human Development Approach’ in order to reduce poverty through the implementation of the LEAD perspective of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development (IK&D), the recent concept of Integrated Microfinance Management (IMM) has set the tone for the present introduction of a more comprehensive approach of Integrated Community-Managed Development (ICMD) to attain poverty reduction within the context of sustainable community development in Indonesia and beyond. The Introduction concludes with an overview of the structure of the book.