This issue highlights experiences of development approaches that are helping in the fight against poverty in rural areas. Reducing rural poverty is one of FAO’s strategic objectives for the coming years, to which the Dimitra project is making a special contribution. Innovative methodologies have been developed which seek to place participation, gender and empowerment of rural communities and organizations at the centre of FAO activities. It is in this spirit that, for several years now, the FAO-Dimitra project has been supporting community listeners’ clubs (CLC), which facilitate a process for strengthening rural communities, with a special focus on women’s leadership. At this stage in the project’s progress, we think it is necessary to take the time to capitalize on several years of experience with the clubs. So included with this newsletter is a fact sheet describing the key features that make the Dimitra community listeners’ clubs a unique approach.