Agutu, Otieno Cecil2011-03-232011-03-232011-03-23http://hdl.handle.net/10539/9216MM- P&DMKenya and Africa continues to grapple with many development challenges. Civil society, the government and the private sector all play a critical role in tackling development challenges in Kenya. For civil society to play the rightful role in the development it has to overcome many challenges which include poor leadership and corruption, lack of capabilities to fulfill the desired roles, approaches to development that are not responding to the needs of communities among other challenges. Yala Swamp community in Kenya was chosen for this case study as it experienced challenges that hamper their effort to address the adverse farming activities of an American multinational corporation. The key challenge they were experiencing is leadership. This stems from the personalities of the leaders, challenges from within and without their new social movement. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the leadership challenges in new social movements, how they are being addressed and how they could be addressed in the future. This research was qualitative in nature and aimed at gaining an understanding of leadership challenges in new social movements and how best they can be addressed from the perspective of community members who are experiencing development challenges. The research findings concluded that leadership challenges that hamper the work of new social movement attempting to address development issues at the community level emanated from personalities of leaders; community members; and opponents of the movements or forces outside the movement. The key recommendations include using a leadership system known as relay leadership which is amenable to realities of new social movements working at the community level. Civil society also needs to be grounded on the needs and aspirations of the people, guided by values and clear principles and establish relationships from the local to the international levels where necessary and appropriate to tackle the development challenges of communities.enLeadership - KenyaCivil society - KenyaThesis