Sustainable community initiatives: a unique partnership and participatory approach

Existing research on partnerships between local governments and community-based organizations within Local Agenda 21 processes across the globe have embarked primarily on the advantages of partnership within the philosophical discourse of community participation as well as the barriers of such participation and their effects on intended partnership. Both empirical and qualitative findings which mostly cover the cases from the United Kingdom and European countries revealed the need to explore more in-depth aspects of Local Agenda 21 programme implementation. In Malaysia, the study of Local Agenda 21 programme participation and implementation remains deficient. In an attempt to evaluate the nature of partnership and participation through document analysis and participant observation, this qualitative study reports two major findings; first, there is a need for strong leadership within a community-based organization in order to mobilize its local resources, and second; there must be a willingness by the local government to employ external expertise and work closely with the main stakeholders to keep Local Agenda 21 processes growing and improving