*  *  Introduction  Professor Jahns, Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to have been asked to assume the patronage of the 21st EBS Symposium and thus to have the opportunity to speak to you today. Occasions like this which provide a platform for students to meet professionals are an agreeable complement to academic study.
Even with such a framework, conducting research on community development and economic empowerment programs can be challenging, in part because the effects these programs intend to achieve are often quite difficult to measure and may not become apparent for relatively long periods of  BIS Review 18/2005  1  time.