In Africa, widespread disillusionment with government has inflated expectations concerning the soci-political role of indigenous civil associations. Popular organizations are expected not only to respond to immediate needs, but also to help empower their hitherto marginalized or oppressed constituences. How are these organizations confronting the inevitable pitfalls and constraints to meet these challenges?

This is the key question which social activists from eight sub-Saharan countries tackle in this volume. It is not an academic treatise on popular empowerment. It is instead a forum in which activists about their pressing concerns, achievements, and hopes. To hear their voices is to renew hope in a less oppressive and more prosperous future.