Asset-Based and Citizen-Led Development with the Coady International Institute Brianne Peters and Ben Flood January 25, 2014

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

Educational Offerings 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  Master of Adult Education: Community Development Stream - StFX

Women’s Leadership  Global Change Leaders  Indigenous Women in Community Leadership  Canadian Women’s Foundation

Focus on Youth: Skills for 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

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

First hit on google (Wikipedia) Cité Soleil (Kreyol: Site Solèy, English: Sun City) is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port- au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 residents, the majority of whom live in extreme poverty.[1] The area is generally regarded as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere and it is one of the biggest slums in the Northern Hemisphere. The area has virtually no sewers and has a poorly maintained open canal system that serves as its sewage system, few formal businesses but many local commercial activities and enterprises, sporadic but largely free electricity, a few hospitals, and a single government school, Lycee Nationale de Cite Soleil. For several years until 2007, the area was ruled by a number of gangs, each controlling their own sectors.

First hit on google images

Cite Soleil - Haiti One story of Cite Soleil Another story – Cite Soleil ommunities/initiatives- partners/haiti/research_innovation_knowledge/

Questions  What motivated people to take action?  Who were the drivers?  What were some of the traits of the leaders?  What resources did they draw on?

Buzz Groups Tell a story from your own experience about an initiative that was driven by students or 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?

Mapping skills of the head, hand and heart Cooking Dancing Embroidery Stitching Compassion Humour Teamwork Conflict resolution Willingness to collaborate Analysis Organization Writing Management Literacy

Mapping Associations and Networks

“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