A Holistic Approach to Empowering Communities
Have you ever looked at a community in need and thought about what’s missing?
It’s a common perspective when you are concerned about meeting needs, but what if we told you there’s a better way to view these communities — not by their deficiencies, but by their strengths and assets?
Welcome to the transformative world of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD).
In this article, we’ll dive into the heart of the ABCD approach, exploring:
- • How focusing on a community’s existing assets rather than its needs can drive sustainable and impactful development.
- • The core principles of ABCD, its methods, and the profound benefits it offers.
- • The essentials of community development, the importance of building relationships, and how local communities can thrive through this innovative mindset.
By the end, you’ll not only understand what Asset-Based Community Development is but also see the advantages of Asset-Based Community Development.
Whether you’re a community leader, an NGO worker, or just someone passionate about social change, this guide will equip you with the knowledge to make a real difference.
So, let’s embark on this journey together and discover how the power of local assets can transform communities from within.
What Is Asset-Based Community Development?
Let’s start off with an asset-based community development definition. In simple terms, it’s a community-driven approach that prioritizes sustainable action. Instead of looking at what’s wrong, we focus on what’s right.
Local communities are often the best at identifying and mobilizing their own assets, something outsiders might miss. With the ABCD approach, communities can tackle challenges more quickly and effectively by using what they already have.
It all starts with identifying assets of individuals, associations, and institutions within the community.
What Defines a Community?
To understand community development, we also need to define what we mean by “community.”
A community encompasses three key elements:
1. Territory or Place
This is the physical space where the community resides.
It could be a neighborhood, a town, or even a city.
The territory is the starting point for any community because it defines the geographical boundaries within which people live and interact.
2. Social Organization or Institutions
These are the local institutions that facilitate regular interactions among residents.
Schools, churches, community centers, and local businesses all serve as hubs for social organization.
They are vital assets to the community, providing a structure where people can:
- • Come together
- • Share experiences
- • Build relationships
3. Social Interactions on Common Interests
Community is also defined by the interactions among its members on issues of common interest.
Whether it’s a local sports team, a neighborhood watch group, or a community garden project, these interactions create a sense of belonging and mutual support.
One of the central goals of development is to strengthen the ties between communities and residents in a locality.
By fostering these connections and leveraging local institutions, we can enhance the sense of community and drive positive development.
The Three Systems in a Community
To fully grasp how the asset-based approach works within communities, it’s important to also understand the three systems that operate within any community.
Political System
How decisions are made about common life guidelines.
Economic System
How goods and services are generated and distributed within the local economy.
Religious System
How beliefs shape life and resource distribution.
Interestingly, the religious system often has the most influence because it deeply affects how a community organizes itself and shares resources.
What Is Community Development?
Community development is all about people coming together to address issues that matter to them.
It’s a process led by community members at every stage, from identifying problems to implementing solutions and evaluating results.
The principles here are:
- • Empowerment
- • Human rights
- • Inclusion
- • Justice
- • Self-determination
- • Collective action
True community work goes far beyond working with just physical assets. It’s relational, involves structural change, and takes a holistic approach.
Goals and Objectives of Community Development
The main goal is to unite people to improve the social, economic, and environmental well-being of their communities.
This is best achieved through a bottom-up approach where community members drive the process, working hand-in-hand with NGOs.
Community development is a planned effort to build assets that increase the capacity of residents to improve their quality of life.
Why Is Community Development Important?
Two Primary Methods of Community Development
1. Needs-Based Approach
This traditional method focuses on identifying the community’s problems and needs.
However, it can lead to fragmented efforts, directing resources to service providers instead of residents, and diminishing community dignity by listing problems without offering empowerment.
Consequences of deficiency orientation based on needs:
• Viewing a community as a nearly endless list of problems and needs leads directly to the fragmentation of efforts to provide solutions.
• Targeting resources based on a needs map directs funding to service providers, not to the residents.
• Robs community of dignity by listing their problems.
• Community relations are broken because neighbor-to-neighbor assistance is given to services.
• If we only provide survival needs and maintenance, what hope is there to invest in the future?
2. Asset-Based Community Development
The asset-based community development model, however, builds and strengthens a community’s assets.
This asset-based thinking promotes resilience, ownership, collaboration, and social capital.
It’s more holistic and sustainable, encouraging innovation and addressing root causes.
The advantages of asset-based community development show that ABCD fosters a more inclusive and resilient community.
Benefits of shifting to a capacity-oriented model:
• A most sustainable approach to development.
• Emphasizes strengths and assets.
• Focuses on capacity versus deficits.
A Shift in Emphasis to Asset-Based Community Development
| Deficit (Needs) Based Approach | Strengths (Asset) Based Approach |
|---|---|
| Focus on Deficiencies | Focus on Assets |
| Problem Response | Opportunity Identification |
| Charity Orientation | Investment Orientation |
| Maintenance | Development |
| Fix People | Develop Potential |
| Programs Are the Answer | People Are the Answer |
| Focus on the Individual | Focus on the Community |
The Five Core Principles of ABCD
1. Citizen-led
There are certain things that only citizens, in association with one another and the assets around them, can do.
2. Relationship-oriented
While ABCD views every person as having irreplaceable gifts, skills, and passions, the ABCD approach goes beyond individuals and their capacities to tap into relational power.
3. Asset-based
To really show up in a neighborhood you have to set aside the utopian impulses to fix, save, and deliver, and instead be curious, collaborative, and humble.
4. Place-based
Seeing the community as the primary unit of change is a powerful strategy for addressing some of our most intractable sociopolitical challenges.
5. Inclusion-focused
Communities have imperceptible boundaries that include or exclude community members. Within these, you are considered in-group. Outside of these, you are considered out-group (essentially, a stranger).
ABCD, therefore, goes beyond helping local residents discover and connect local assets and actively creates a welcome for “strangers” at the edge of those unnamed boundaries.
Asset-Based Community Development Example
An asset-based approach in education within a community involves recognizing and leveraging the existing strengths and resources of:
- • Students
- • Teachers
- • Parents
- • Local institutions
This asset-based instruction approach focuses on identifying the unique talents, skills, and knowledge each student brings to the classroom.
This approach not only enriches the educational process but also strengthens the community by building relationships and social capital, ultimately leading to a more resilient and supportive educational system.
Primary vs. Secondary Assets
Primary Assets: Readily available for community rebuilding.
Secondary Assets: Available but controlled by outsiders.
| Primary Assets | Secondary Assets |
|---|---|
| Individual Assets – Skills, talents, and experience of residents – Individual businesses – Personal income – Gifts of labeled people Organizational Assets – Community-based organizations – Churches, religious entities – Associations or businesses – Cultural organizations | Private & Nonprofit Organizations – Institutions of higher learning – Hospitals, clinics, etc. – Social service agencies Public Institutions & Services – Public Schools – Police Physical Resources – Vacant land or land donated by community leaders – Industrial structures |
What Is a Community Asset?
A community asset, or resource, can be anything that improves community life.
In ABCD, this includes strengths, skills, resources, and capacities.
Leveraging these local assets empowers communities to tackle their challenges and drive positive change from within.
Next Steps
Asset-Based Community Development goes way beyond simple community projects. It offers a powerful way to empower communities.
By focusing on assets and strengths rather than needs, communities can foster resilience, ownership, and collaboration, leading to lasting positive change.
This holistic approach ensures that development is community-driven, inclusive, and sustainable, addressing both immediate and long-term goals.
Convoy of Hope, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to combating hunger and poverty, is a strong proponent of the ABCD approach to community development.
While Convoy has brought much-needed resources into communities around the world, it constantly works with those communities to multiply and utilize local resources.
For example, in a number of communities where Convoy has begun a feeding program for schoolchildren, it has also trained farmers to increase their crops and provide the necessary food for the program.
In Convoy’s Women’s Empowerment initiative, participants receive the training and startup equipment needed to develop personal businesses. Thousands of women coming through the program are now successfully supporting their families and contributing to the local economy.
Through the ABCD approach, we can see communities not as bundles of problems but as vibrant entities with immense potential.
This asset-based mindset transforms how we engage with local communities, promoting a positive and proactive way to community development.
Acknowledgements:
*A special thanks to John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight for all of the their work with the ABCD Institute. As well as a thank you to Robert Linthicum for his impact in the field of ABCD.
