Asset-Based Communitydriven Development (ABCD) as an Approach And Model To Address The Challenges Of Africa

Asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) has gained momentum in South Africa on different levels by government, corporate sector, civil society, and academia. ABCD values the capacity, skills, knowledge, and connections in individuals and communities, focusing on what is strong and what they have and not on what is wrong and does not have. It enables communities to lead their own development by co-investing their own assets, taking advantage of opportunities, and leveraging their own resources with resources of government, businesses, and other organizations. Based on many years of applying and experiencing ABCD, this chapter attempts to establish a practice model in terms of principles, phases, methods, and techniques. The phases consist of connecting and discovering, dreaming/visioning, designing, delivery, disconnecting, and departing. Methods and techniques imbedded in the phases are, for example, storytelling, asset mappings, leaky bucket technique, and participatory monitoring and evaluation techniques. Ubuntu, an African philosophy that puts high value on connectedness, relationships, trust, engagement, and social networks, emphasizes social assets, and which forms the basis of ABCD. The potential of ABCD in South Africa is that it puts in place all the building blocks for real and meaningful sustainability of community interventions and the organizations that manage and lead these interventions. The outcome of ABCD is that it builds resilient, self-reliant, confident communities.