<![CDATA[Rural communities in developing regions frequently possess abundant social capital and religious infrastructure that remain underutilised due to fragmented organisational management and limited structured youth participation. Objective: This study evaluates a community-led development intervention designed to strengthen social cohesion, enhance youth public speaking and leadership competencies, and optimise administrative stewardship within rural religious and civic institutions. Methods: Employing a five-phase Participatory Community Development framework consisting of asset discovery, co-design planning, capacity building, institutionalisation, and sustainability monitoring, the intervention directly engaged 145 community members including youth leaders, religious educators, and women's social associations. Results: Empirical evaluation revealed significant enhancements across all target dimensions: public speaking confidence rose from a baseline of 32.0% to 85.5%; youth mosque participation expanded from 28.5% to 82.0%; and administrative efficiency in Quranic education centres increased from 30.5% to 84.0%. Conclusion and Implications: The participatory community development approach successfully transformed latent religious and social assets into active community governance structures. This framework offers a sustainable model for rural social development, demonstrating that structured capacity building can foster enduring community self-reliance.]]>
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