The Coady International Institute St Francis Xavier University Established in1959 Emerged out of the Antigonish Movement in the 1930’s

Transformative Leadership Education Over 6,000 graduates in 130 countries  19-week Diploma in Development Leadership  Two or three-week Certificates in:  Advocacy and Citizen Engagement  Community-based Conflict Transformation and Peace Building  Community-based Natural Resource Management  Community-driven Health Impact Assessment  Facilitation and Training Approaches for Community Change  Learning Organizations and Change  Community Development Leadership by Women  Skills for Social Change  Good Governance and Social Accountability Tools  Communications and Social Media  Partnerships  Livelihoods and Markets  Community-based Microfinance  Mobilizing Assets for Community-driven Development  Women’s Leadership  Master of Adult Education: Community Development Stream - StFX

Research for Action Research and action-research initiatives that support our educational focus on community organizing for economic and social change

Community 1 and Community 2

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) emerged as a result of a growing critique of “problem solving” or “needs-based” approaches Needs and Assets

ABCD focuses on the half full part of the glass where the strengths, capacities and assets of the community lie. For too long community workers have only paid attention to the half empty part: people’s needs and problems Asset-Based Citizen-Led Development (ABCD) as an Approach

Cite Soleil - Haiti One story of Cite Soleil – just google it! Another story – Soley Levey ommunities/initiatives- partners/haiti/research_innovation_knowledge/

What are the consequences of focusing only on needs and problems in community development?

Unintended consequences of a needs- based or problem-solving approach  Leadership emphasizing community needs in order to secure resources  Community members internalizing what their leaders are saying (a deficit mentality)  Funding by categories of needs, and Money going to the institutions filling the needs A dependence on external rather than internal relationships

Needs and assets Growing recognition of the existence of a multitude of assets in even the poorest communities

What do we mean by assets? Tell a story from your own experience about an initiative that was driven by citizens and started with no outside assistance from institutions Describe how the idea took hold, how people organized to get things done, which leaders emerged, and what resources and assets were drawn upon

What do we mean by assets?

What do we mean by assets at the community level?  Stories of past success  Knowledge, experiences, innovations, talents and skills of individuals  Physical assets and natural resources  Financial resources  Cultural assets  Local institutions  Associations and social networks

“The people will use what they have to secure what they have not.” - Moses Coady

On Monday… How ABCD was operationalized in Ethiopia

“Nobody has Nothing”

Nobody Has Nothing  The groups represented in the following scenarios are marginalised and harassed: often labelled ‘the poorest of the poor’  Similar groups exist in many countries  For each scenario – identify livelihood opportunities you think these groups could undertake building on what they have

Scenario 1: Street Kids in Khartoum  Organised in gangs  Ruthlessly harassed: tough and determined  Energetic, strong, young  Know the city, in spite of no maps or street names or numbers  Keen to learn

What these street kids did:  They organized into a tour guide association.

Scenario 2: Crazy bikers in London  Passionate about motor-bikes  Own and cherish fast machines  Deal in drugs and stolen goods to ‘feed’ their passion  Used to coping with the police  Know the fastest route to everywhere  Compete fiercely, but strong cameraderie

What really happened?: Crazy bikers DTDC: Door to Door Courier Services “DTDC with 13,000 individuals as its strength, delivers at over 10,000 zip (pin code) areas, handling 10 million consignments every month. DTDC serves over 240 international destinations.”

Scenario 3: Plastic Rubbish Pickers in New Delhi  250,000 +, mainly women  Pick from garbage, roadsides  Know where to go and to sell  Low value, mixed varieties and colours  Some recyclable materials  Harassed by ‘official’ services, police  Provide a valuable service  Visible, shameful to ‘image

What really happened? Plastic Rubbish Pickers in Delhi

Some of their Products /

Bottom Line: Nobody has Nothing Everyone has something to contribute

Courtesy of Peter Kenyon, Bank of IDEAS

The Danger of a Single Story