The nurturing of community facilitators is the essence of PCD's primary approach to the programme. In PCD's programme concept, the notion of community facilitators refers to both individuals, and civic groups in urban areas and community based organisations in rural areas. We envision that these facilitators will contribute to cultivate local activism and capacity in grassroots communities to generate collective actions for change.

PCD's primary approach in nurturing community facilitators as change agents does not stop at enhancing their skills and knowledge for managing programmes. It aims to build up facilitators' critical awareness on problems brought about by mainstream development model, and their ability to facilitate communities to analyse their own situation and take action for change. Critical reflection on the reductionist nature of mainstream development models is informed by awareness of issues of equity, diversity, good governance and the ecological system, the cultural aspects of development, and the interaction between nature and human beings, as captured in PCD's vision and principles.