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		Ninety percent of the staff of the college, being barefoot teachers, engineers, communicators and extension workers, lacks qualifications beyond high school. Seventy-five per cent of the staff is from the local community. The term “barefoot” refers to the fact that it is the rural people, and particularly the poor, who are students in the college. The term “College”, although suggesting higher education in the western sense, reflects the philosophy of the Founders that education happens at every level. Apart from the regular staff of the College, 45 village women’s groups, with a membership of more than 1,500 women, are linked to the activities of the College and have through that contact become a major force for social change in the area. Two generations of village students, once considered “unemployable”, have passed through the College and are now “barefoot” doctors and engineers. Rural youth have been trained and employed to run night school for boys and girls. Training camps and workshop have been organized to upgrade the skills of young artisans. Trained as barefoot engineers and mechanics, youth are installing and maintaining solar electricity systems to provide basic lighting and installing hand pumps to provide safe drinking water in villages throughout the area directly served by the College. Night schools are operated by the programme providing basic literacy skills for rural communities, some of which benefit from solar electrification systems installed by graduates of the Barefoot programme. The process of community ownership starts from the planning to the implementation. The second stage of ownership is partnership.