ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (ABCD)

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (ABCD) by Peter Kenyon Director Bank of IDEAS (Initiatives for the Development of Enterprising Action and Strategies) 14 BIRD ROAD KALAMUNDA WA 6957 Phone: 08 6293 1848 Fax: 08 6293 1137 email: pk @bankofideas.com.au web: www.bankofideas.com.au

'Every single person has capacities, abilities and gifts. Living a good life depends on whether those capacities can be used, abilities expressed and gifts given‘ (John McKnight)

‘Every living person has some gift or capacity of value to others. A strong community is a place that recognises these gifts and ensures they are given. A weak community is a place where lots of people can’t or don’t give their gifts’ (John Mcknight and John Kretzman) ‘The strength of a community is directly proportional to the number of people who contribute their abilities to the well-being of the community’ (Nance Diamond)

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – KEY ASSUMPTIONS • Believes that meaningful and lasting community changes always origin from within, and local residents in that community are the best experts on how to activate that change. • focuses on the resources and capacities of a community and its residents, instead of dwelling on their needs problems and deficiencies. • inherently optimistic, and assumes every single person has capacities, abilities and gifts.Living a good life depends on whether those capacities can be used, abilities expressed and gifts given. • the strength of a community is directly proportional to the level that residents want, and a re able to contribute their abilities and assets to the wellbeing of their community.

Communities have deficiencies Communities and it’s citizens have capacities and assets

COMMUNITY NEEDS MAP UNEMPLOYMENT TRUANCY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES WELFARE DEPENDANCE CHILD ABUSE BULLYING ILLITERACY CRIME MENTAL HEALTH GRAFFITI ALCOHOLISM DRUG ABUSE HOMELESSNESS EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS

COMMUNITY ASSETS MAP LOCAL INSTITUTIONS BUSINESS SCHOOLS CLUBS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS GIFTS OF INDIVIDUALS YOUNG PEOPLE ARTISTS LOCAL COUNCIL SENIOR CITIZENS ALL RESIDENTS LABELLED PEOPLE SPORTING TEAMS CHURCHES HOSPITAL FACILITIES GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

ASSET AND RESOURCE MAPPING • A systematic process for identifying and detailing resources (individual skills and organisational resources) and strengths in a community. • The purpose of mapping is to mobilise assets and gifts, and to create connections between gifted individuals and between asset rich associations and networks.

TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY ABCD DEVELOPMENT Top down, outside in Inside out Weaknesses Strengths Deficiencies, needs Assets, opportunities Disabilities Abilities, capacities Silo provision Collaboration Relationships, networking Consumers of services Producers of services Dependence on outside Importance of Professional’s community initiative And relationships

SOME CONSEQUENCES OF NEEDS AND DEFICIENCY FOCUS • INTERNALISATION OF DEFICIENCY IDENTITY BY • LOCAL RESIDENTS. • 2. DEPENDENCE ON OUTSIDE RESOURCES / • PROFESSIONALS TO FIND AND FIX. • 3. OUTSIDE RESOURCES GO INTO ‘NEED’ BOXES. • FOCUSES ON ‘LEADERS’ WHO MAGNIFY • DEFICIENCIES. • REWARDS FAILURES AND ABILITY TO ‘TALK-DOWN’ • COMMUNITIES. • 6. PERPETUATES DEPENDENCY AND HOPELESSNESS.

COMMUNITY ASSETS • 1. TALENTS AND SKILLS OF RESIDENTS • 2. ASSOCIATIONS AND NETWORKS • 3. INSTITUTIONS • PHYSICAL ASSETS – LAND, BUILDINGS, • EQUIPMENT ETC • 5. ECONOMIC ASSETS E.G. LOCAL BUSINESS • BASE, CONSUMER SPENDING POWER ETC • 6. HERITAGE AND LOCAL STORIES

MAPPING INDIVIDUAL SKILLS AND CAPACITIES • Skills information • Community experiences • Employment/business interests and experiences • Gifts/assets • Dreams • Personal information

COMMUNITY ASSET MAPPING PROCESS • 1. PLAN THE PROCESS • Establish the asset mapping task group • Define purpose(s) of exercise • Select group(s) to be mapped • Select methods to be used • Design the mapping instrument • CONDUCT THE MAPPING EXERCISE • collect the data • organise/map the data • USE THE INFORMATION • Disseminate the information • Allocate the resources and covert resources into assets

NEW PROSPECT BAPTIST CHURCH Cincinnati, OH Survey Guidelines • INTRODUCTION • My name is ___________. What is your name? • Thank you for coming over. Did someone talk to you about what the ‘Gift Exchange’ is all about? What do you • understand it to be? Basically, we believe that everyone has God-given talents and gifts that can be used to benefit • the community. I’d like to spend a few minutes talking to you about your gifts and skills. • GIFTS • Gifts are abilities that we are born with. We may develop them, but no one has to teach them • to us. • What positive qualities do people say you have? • Who are the people in your life that you give to? How do you give to them? • When was the last time you shared with someone else? What was it? • What do you give that makes you feel good? • SKILLS • Sometimes we have talents that we’ve acquired in everyday life such as cooking and fixing things. • What do you enjoy doing? • If you could start a business what would it be? • What do you like to do that people would pay you to do? • Have you ever made anything? Have you ever fixed anything? • DREAMS • Before you go, I want to take a minute and hear about your dreams – those goals you hope to accomplish. • What are your dreams? • If you could snap your fingers and be doing anything, what would it be? • CLOSING • First, I’d like to thank you. We’re talking to as many people as we can and what we’d like to do is begin a Wall of Fame • here in the Soup Kitchen highlighting the gifts, skills and dreams of as many people as possible. The ultimate goal is • to find a way to use those gifts in rebuilding the community.Before you go, can I get your full name? Address? Age?

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY AI is a reaction to problem based and deficiency focused change methodologies. It is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organisations and their community. It involves systematic discovery of what has happened in the past, and what gives a person, an organisation or community ‘life’ when most effective and capable. AI involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen capacity to heighten positive potential. It mobilises inquiry through crafting ‘unconditional positive questions’ that lead to sharing best practices, magic moments and life giving experiences. In AI, intervention leads to imagination and innovation. AI assumes that people, organisations and / or community has untapped, rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. When this ‘positive change core’ is directly linked to change agenda, AI believes that changes never thought possible are suddenly and democratically mobilised. AI generates hope, optimism and energy – powerful forces for change.

ASSUMPTIONS OF APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY • Work in the affirmative, continuously seeking to discover what has and gives life to the community and it’s members – instead of working from a problem solving and deficiency paradigm. People can plan best using the best of what has worked in the past. • Communities grow toward what they persistently ask questions about, • Importance of narrative rich communication – AI works through story telling, testimonials and large group forums, • Our future images guide our present performance – positive images enhance community’s performance and personal motivation. Where images are depressed or deficient, morale tends to be low, • Inquiry is inseparable from action. AI articulates tomorrows • possibilities rather than explains yesterdays world, • Inquiry and change are not separate moments. A1 generates conversations about what has worked, the good, the better and the possible.

Example of appreciative Inquiry questions when reflecting within an organisation • Reflect on your time in this organisation. Locate an experience, a moment, that w as high point, when you felt most effective and engaged. • Describe how you felt, and what made the situation possible. • Without being humble, describe what you most value about yourself, your work, your organisation. • Describe how you stay professionally affirmed, renewed, energised, enthusiastic, inspired? • Share your three concrete wishes for the future of this organisation.

You will only learn what you already know The elders in a village had failed time after time to resolve a difficult problem, and so they invited a very wise person from another village to come and help them solve their problem. And, in time, she came. And when the people gathered to hear her wisdom, the wise woman asked them: "Do you know what I'm going to tell you?" And the villagers shouted: "No! We don't know. We wouldn't be here if we knew." So the wise woman replied: "You will only learn what you already know. And if you don't know what I'm going to tell you, I'm leaving." She left. The village was in an uproar. Months passed, and the problems didn't go away. The elders debated and planned, and finally they decided to issue a second invitation to the wise woman. And the wise woman returned, and once again she asked her question: "Do you know what I am going to tell you?" And this time they'd been thoroughly organized, and the villagers shouted in unison: "Yes!" They knew a trick question when they heard one. So the wise woman looked out at them and she said: "Well, if you already know, then I have nothing left to tell you" - and she left. And, once again, the village was in an uproar, and the discussions got more heated, and the meetings got longer. Convinced the woman had something important to teach them, the villagers decided to ask her back for a third visit. This time they were terrifically organized, and she came, and once again she asked her question: "Do you know what I'm going to tell you?" And this time, in unison, half of the villagers shouted, "Yes!" And half of the villagers shouted, "No!" So the wise woman looked out and she said: "Now, will all of those who know what I'm going to tell you tell everybody who doesn't know- that way we'll all know." And she left ... and never came back again. That night a wise leader of the village had a dream, which she reported to the gathered villagers the next morning. She said: "Last night a voice appeared to me in my dream and told me the meaning of the message from the wise woman." She said: "The wise woman has been trying to teach us that any really important knowledge is already here in our village - in our culture, in our traditions, and, most importantly, in our relationships with each other." She said: "We already know. The only thing we lack is the confidence to believe that we know."

SELECT READING LISTS Kretzman J. R and McKnight J. L (1993) Building Communities From the Inside Out – A Path Toward Finding and Mobilising a Community’s Assets, Chicago: The Asset Based Community Institute. Snow L.(2001) The Organisation of Hope – A Workbook for Rural Asset – Based Community Development, Chicago: The Asset - Based Community Institute. Rons S. and Altman H. Asset – Based Strategies For Faith Communities, Chicago : The Asset – Based Community Development Institute. Mellish E (2001) The Appreciative Series Chelmer: Mellish and Associates. Annis S (2000), The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, Planto: Thin Book Publishing Co. Annis S and Royal C (1998),Lessons From the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry, Planto, USA: Thin Publishing Co.

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (ABCD)