Ahmad Fahim Hakim: Traditional Village Shura versus Village Development Association

	Traditional Shura	Village Development Association¹
Membership	Open	Fixed
Member characteristics	Age Religious competence Conservative and more traditionalist Economic power Social power Contact with Authority	Having development vision Have modern education Representative of whole population Contact with agencies Willing to bring about changes
Objectives	Problem solving; Conflict resolution	Planning, Implementation, and running of community projects
Function	Reactive	Proactive

¹Village Development Association tends to address the root causes of conflicts not only the symptoms. It tends to use improved communication, negotiation and mediation skills for conflict resolutions and transformation. It tries to be proactive and to set up strategic thinking and objectives. It establishes contacts with other agencies in order to reduce economic, social and political vulnerabilities and decreases the level of defencelessness to external shocks.