This morning I spoke on national radio about one of my passions, community development. The methodology we use is ABCD – Asset Based Community Development.
ABCD is built on:
1. Appreciative inquiry which identifies and analyses the community’s past successes. This strengthens people’s confidence in their own capacities and inspires them to take action.
2. The recognition of social capital and its importance as an asset. This is why ABCD focuses on the power of associations and informal linkages within the community, as well as the relationships built over time between community associations and external institutions.
3. Participatory approaches to development, which are based on principles of empowerment and ownership of the development process.
4. Community economic development models that place priority on collaborative efforts for economic development that make the best use of their own resource base.
5. Efforts to strengthen civil society. These efforts have focused on how to engage people as citizens (rather than clients) in development, and how to make local governance more effective and responsive.
Listen to this TEDx talk, by Angela Blanchard (Neighborhood Centers Inc) where she discusses a strengths-based approach to working with communities. It is an example of asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) in practice. https://youtu.be/XU_vVt298gw
To listen to the interview click on this link https://omny.fm/shows/op-en-wakker/die-abcd-van-gemeenskapsontwikkeling
#abcd #community