Columbia Teachers College Conference on Democratic Practices as Learning Opportunities: Comparing International Experiences and Understandings New York City, November 2005 The Unlettered Leader: Strengthening Civil Society through Dialogue and Social Learning in Rural India Patricia A. Wilson and Varun Vidyarthi Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning University of Texas pwilson@mail.utexas.edu Introduction Since 1995, micro-credit lending in India has spawned over a million self help groups (borrower’s circles) incorporating over ten million poor rural women. With the support of both governmental and non-governmental development organizations, these self help groups have mobilized village savings and raised the productive capacity and organizational capability of women villagers throughout the country. In some areas the self help groups have begun to organize themselves into district and regional networks, where a new phase is emerging: development of leadership and civic engagement skills for a vibrant civil society that builds on the assets of the poor and brings them into dialogue with the local state and private sectors. This article analyzes the factors behind the emergent transformational learning process from isolation to connectedness – i.e. the making of a citizen. Manavodaya, the Institute of Participatory Development, was one of the first such non-governmental development organizations to foster self help groups. Having had particular success with its values-oriented approach to training several thousand development facilitators and organizing many thousands of women into self help groups over fifteen years, Manavodaya is now developing leadership and civic engagement skills among the district level federations of self help groups in Uttar Pradesh. The article explores the values and ideas behind Manavodaya’s unique training, revealing how reflective dialogue and trust-building play a key role in building people’s institutions to strengthen civil society in rural India. Patricia A. Wilson Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning, University of Texas pwilson@mail.utexas.edu Varun Vidyarthi Manavodaya Institute for Participatory Development, Lucknow, U.P.