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This article, drawing on an action research project, argues for the revitalized use of two under-utilized practice frameworks for community development in the pursuit of social change. The two frameworks – Participatory Development Practice and the Spiral Model of Community Education – support a citizen-led approach to practice, one that focuses on the relational and dialogical elements of group processes. Starting with stories of citizens' lived experiences, a structural or community analysis about the root causes of oppression is enabled and supports community action that can be sustained over time. Findings from the action research showed that groups benefitted from foregrounding their own need for social sustainability and that the educational approach of Freire helped them shift from an antagonistic conflict mode to a dialogical or agonistic conflict mode which created confidence to engage in difficult conversations supporting their community development efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the sustainability school (SS) program of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Uganda. The focus is on how the social network, enabled by the SS program, fosters social and transformative learning. The significance of this approach to community-based education for social change, including in the context of resource conflict and displacement, is considered. Findings focus on the local-level impacts of the program, including the ways in which collective and community organizing, and educational methodology shape both social and transformative learning. Discussion considers the importance of not only the "social" element of transformative learning but the need--within conflict and dangerous contexts--to link the social explicitly to building organization and a social movement that provides a structural container for people to engage in critical thinking and social action.