GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM

The involvement of a person or a group of people to act together on a local scale to change the socio-economic and/or political situation.

"The CitizenConnect program, which is administered by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, will feature community leaders and experts in specific fields or issues. They will travel to selected U.S. embassies and posts for up to a week to promote the development of grassroots activism and advocacy focused on solving concrete problems at the local community level."
(U.S. Department of State, CitizenConnect to Commence with Program in Cambodia on Volunteerism and Grassroots Activism, 2005, visited 2009-08-03)

Grassroots activism aims to effect social change and to give more decision-making power to the local community to allow it to oppose the government, to protect the environment, or to improve poor living conditions, for example. It ranges from self-help to lobbying.

"The last decades have seen a dramatic increase in grassroots activism on many issues, in developing countries as well as in the industrialized nations. ‘Local organizations form a sort of ragtag front line in the worldwide struggle to end poverty and environmental destruction,' writes Durning. Small efforts to plant trees or improve literacy in villages, neighbourhoods, and shantytowns around the world may seem modest in isolation, but their collective impact is monumental."
(AtKisson, A., Rising Tide At The Grassroots, 1989, visited 2010-08-03)