Asset-based community development

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a methodology that seeks to uncover and utilize the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development.

The first step in the process of community development is to assess the resources of a community through a capacity inventory [1] or through another process of talking to the residents to determine what types of skills and experience are available. The next step is to support communities,to discover what they care enough about to act. The final step is to determine how citizens can act together to achieve those goals.[1]

Contents

Basis of the Idea

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute[2] is located at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future Its founders, John Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, were influential in developing this community development philosophy.

Applications to Health Systems

In the book Health Assets in a Global Context it is argued that "in egalitarian societies with strong safety nets and adequate provision of public goods, neighbourhood contexts (including the level of social cohesion) may be less salient for the health of residents in contrast to segregated and unequal societies such as the United States."[3] It is also argued that neo-liberal (unregulated market) economic doctrines promoting individual considerations over the common good erode social capital as a health asset.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b McKnight, John; Kretzmann, John. "Mapping Community Capacity". Northwestern University. http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/papers/mcc.pdf. 
  2. ^ Asset-Based Community Development Institute
  3. ^ Ichiro Kawachi. "The Relationship Between Health Assets, Social Capital and Cohesive Communities" in A Morgan, M Davies and E Ziglio (eds), Health Assets in a Global Context. Springer NY 2010. Ch 9 167-179 at 174.
  4. ^ F Baum. "How Forms of Social Capital Can Be An Asset for Promoting Health Equity" in A Morgan, M Davies and E Ziglio (eds), Health Assets in a Global Context. Springer NY 2010. ch 16 303-320 at 313.

Further reading

By Mike Green with Henry Moore & John O'Brien Foreword by John McKnight sset-Based Community Development as a Strategy for Community-Driven Development

External links

http://www.inspiringcommunities.com Australia/Asia

http://www.nurturedevelopment.ie/ Europe