Greeting

This web offers such a framework of community empowerment, initially devised in Japan, but one which can be fruitfully applied in other settings, with appropriate accommodation to any local cultural values. It is only through the understanding and incorporation of cultural values that any general framework for empowerment will be effective. Equally important are the methods used to evaluate the effects of such programs to ensure the real progress is being made. And, then, there may be hope that we can create communities that can meet their own needs, in an interdependent manner that draws on many levels of contribution to make lives worth living across the lifespan, regardless of where on earth we live.