Asset Based Community Development

What is Asset Based Community Development? 

Focusing on what’s strong, not what’s wrong. 

Asset Based Community Development, which is often called ‘ABCD’, is an approach that encourages communities to identify and mobilise existing ‘assets’ to improve their local area.

Instead of focusing on what a community is lacking, ABCD asks questions like:

• What solutions and resources are people already accessing?
• What unique strengths does the community possess?
• What knowledge, skills and networks are people using?

What are community assets?

Communities have so many strengths that can be used to create positive change, including knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm. ABCD groups these assets into five main categories:

1. Individuals – Residents of a community all have gifts and skills that are unique to them.
2. Associations – Community groups, which are groups of volunteers who work together towards a common interest, are critical to community mobilisation.
3. Place-based –Land, buildings, market squares, and nature reserves are all examples of the physical assets that form what communities are made from.
4. Institutions – Organisations comprised of paid professionals and specialists, like government agencies, schools, or businesses, help to capture resources and encourage civic responsibility.
5. Connections – People build relationships, and relationships build communities. Trusting social networks strengthen an areas ‘social fabric’.

The key principles of ABCD

• Everyone has skills and experience that they can contribute to their community.
• Local people should be the custodians of their communities.
• Good decisions can only emerge from conversations where people are listened to and heard.
• Asking for ideas is a more sustainable approach than ‘prescribing’ solutions.
• Communities are not complex masses of needs and problems. They are diverse and capable networks of gifts and assets.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of ABCD?

ABCD does have its critics, with some describing it as ‘neoliberalism with a community face’. These criticisms, in some contexts, likely have some validity. But the truth probably lies in the dynamic interaction between theory and practice – reflecting on criticism can improve practice and improved practice refines theory.

In our experience, having worked with communities across Oxfordshire for over 100 years, we find that when community development is led by local people, initiatives and projects are more likely to succeed in the longer term.

That’s why we continue to provide services that nurture community-led action and placemaking practices across the county.