A Tale of Two Neighbourhoods: Some Evidence of Leadership, Learning, and Liveability

Research on community-based organisations’ potentials and capacities to mobilise community at grassroots levels are emerging rapidly. Yet, inadequacy in terms of understanding how these grassroots institutions participate within Local Agenda 21 processes persists. Despite the establishment of Local Agenda 21 for sixteen years in Malaysia, research on the development of community leadership and learning in mobilising community remains scarce. This paper thus attempts to assess community leadership and learning through participation in Local Agenda 21 programs. Triangulated data collection methods comprising document analysis, experts’ interviews, and case study approach were undertaken to evaluate the development of local sustainable initiatives implemented by two community-based organisations within the platform of community participation facilitated by the City Council of Petaling Jaya. Building on Purdue’s leadership and trust framework as well as instrumental and communicative learning concepts, this qualitative study finds that continuous participation resulting from a continuous charismatic leadership has caused the local neighbourhoods to keep learning. This finding suggests that neighbourhoods participating actively in sustainability platform may substantially contribute to social dimensions of neighbourhood liveability, depending on the extent of community leadership and learning.