The 5 Principles of ABCD: How Communities Really Grow

What actually makes communities grow? Not outside resources, not expert interventions, but the assets, relationships, and leadership already inside a community. 
In this episode, Erica and Sam walk us through the 5 Principles of Asset-Based Community Development, showing what each one looks like in practice and revealing why lasting change happens when communities are seen as capable and trusted to lead themselves.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi, my name is Sam.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

And I'm Erika, and welcome to the Course Intelligence Member Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Welcome back. In our last episode, we looked at uh what approach to use and in what situation. Is it relief? Is it rehabilitation or is it development? And development happens when it is with the people, so it happens by the people. And we also looked at the idea of the half-empty, glass half-empty, or half full, which is an idea that Erica explained, that uh we'll have to look at what the community has from a perspective of abundance rather than uh what they lack, which is a scarcity mindset. Erica, what do we have today?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

So today we are going a little deeper and we'll be breaking down the principles of the asset-based community development approach, which we introduced in our last episode. So there are five principles, some, and to start, we're going to play a game. So let me just tell you what those principles are, and you're going to guess which principle it is based on the situation that I tell you. So we have the asset-based principle, place-based, citizen-driven, relationship-driven, and inclusion. So keep that in mind. And to our listeners, just keep that in the back of your mind so that you can be able to guess with us as we play. So the first scenario, Sam, a community uses a church compound, an empty veranda, or a mango tree as a meeting space.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

That sounds to me like place best.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Okay. The second scenario is a young man who failed in school discovers he can repair phones and starts a small repair shop, and all the committee members come to him.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

That sounds like asset best because the young man is using his talent or his skill of repairing.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

But he failed in school.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

That's a scarce mindset right there. You got it.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

A conscious effort to focus on what is working. Exactly. The third scenario is a group of widows start a savings group on their own without anybody training them.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Citizen driven.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

So I want to ask a question about this scenario. What is wrong about the statement I said? I said a group of widows start a savings group on their own.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

I think that's a gusty mindset outlook. You're looking at uh uh you're already labeling them from a point of what they lack.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Exactly. It's very important when we're switching into the ABCD to always know what how are we defining this people? Are the labels we are placing on them helping them to see themselves in the goal in the way God's the way God sees them, or are we limiting them and labeling them these levels? So, yes, that is a relationship driven. And our fifth one is our training group is designed so that people with disabilities, elders, single mothers can participate.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

That's definitely inclusion.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Everybody is included again. Here we are labeling different people. Sometimes when you just say single mothers, people already think of them as people who are specific and they cannot do other things for themselves. So these labels are things that we always have to keep watching for.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

So, Erica, why do these principles matter so much?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

They matter because if we don't follow them, the ABCD is a lens, it's a lens, it's a way of saying things. So everything we do, and if we follow this lens, it will be able to bring out the results that we want. ABCD is about getting communities to do things for themselves. But if we don't follow these principles, it might be difficult to actually create an environment where communities can do things for themselves. So these principles are very important. And in our case, we have missed out one or two. Sometimes we just don't feel the need to do it. And when things don't work out, we realize oh, there's something we didn't follow in the ABCD principles that can really help this succeed.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah. So let's begin with asset-based. Tell us more about this.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

You you heard the example of the young man, you said these are his assets. From that example, we said he had been a dropout of school, but he had some assets. What did he had failed? He had failed, yes. But what assets did he have? What did you say? You said you used the word assets.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

He had the skill of being able to repair the radios.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Exactly. He could be able to repair radios. Assets can be skills that people have. And one of the ways to know that every community, every person, regardless of whether they've gone to school or not, including those who are labored illiterate, have skills, tangible things that they can do. They have gifts that God has given them. We always say they have the gifts of the head, heart, and hand. In the heads, it's all the knowledge they have had up to today. In the heart is all their passions that they have. And in their hands is all the skills that they have. So communities have those assets. So those are the individual assets that people have. But there are also other assets in the community. There are associations, groups of people that have been meeting. That is an asset.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

That's an asset.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

They are doing something about something they care about. We have institutions. Now, this is where our organizations come in. They know us. We are an asset. We've been doing great things in our communities. The schools, all the formal, the government, all these are assets. And if the community reaches out to them to get support, they can be supported. Then there's physical assets, because everybody lives in a building. It's as simple as what is around them: the rivers, the roads, the things they use every day. The buildings, everything. Economic assets. Now in the ABCD, we usually don't talk about money. I'm sure someone is waiting to hear money. Money assets. We know money is an asset, but we have found that money limits people. Remember the story we had talked about in another episode where somebody said, I and until you give me capital, that's when I'm going to do something.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

To start, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

It has become limiting because money is a product of an asset. If you use your assets well, it can turn into it can bring in money. So when we are doing asset mapping in the ABCD process, we don't map money. We map what are those things that you are doing, the economic activities in this community that are going on where you can get those resources. And the stories are very important. We are not the first people to come to that community. In fact, stories are the first entry point into the community if you want to learn from them.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Do you have a story you'd like to share with us?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yes, I do have.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Not what is wrong.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Not what is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

So one day I actually ABCD is a conscious decision, like you said, intentional. It takes intentionality to look at what is strong rather than what is wrong.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

And most of the times, a scarcity mindset will always look at what is wrong rather than what is strong.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

I know. And it's not that we are I we usually get the question from leaders saying, oh, there are wrong things. Are you, is it they call it uh uh is it negative positivity? Is it toxic positivity? That's what they call it. ABCD is toxic positivity because you guys are just talking about what's what's wrong. But there's a reason in the ABCD why we focus on what's strong. You you guys are ignoring, that's what they say, what is wrong. It's not that we are ignoring it, it's just not our starting point. People get overwhelmed. Immediately you are presented. You know, when immediately after giving the needs analysis, you are so discouraged. You look at all these problems you have and how you are not able to meet them. A BCD is a flipped approach where you start with what is strong so that people feel the confidence to use what they have. We don't ignore it, we just don't make it the center of everything.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

And uh, yeah, I it reminds me of your story with the U organization Love and Hands, when uh you know you wanted to provide education for these kids from poor communities, and then finally you realize it is not the right one, and then you flipped it, and then uh they were able to make their own incomes, and now they can take their kids to school. Yeah, you no longer provide school fees and scholastics, but now the community does because of what they were able to do. Because you for ABCD focuses on what is strong rather than what is wrong.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yes, exactly. And one time there's a woman who came to our house and she was knocking on doors and looking for support handouts. We usually have some people who go from house to house. And she had a worn-out paper that was explaining how she's a refugee and all these things she's going through and she needs support. And we usually do have sometimes people living with disability.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Did she write it herself?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

No, it was written by someone else. But we even have people who are living with disabilities sometimes holding up a paper saying, Yeah, yeah, I'm a person. So they describe themselves like that so that people can. So she knocked, and I was I happened to be the person. By this time, my lenses had changed. Yeah, and I looked at her and I was like, as she spoke, I could only see the gifts that she had. I was like, this woman is very confident, she's able to explain herself very well. She could make a very good marketer, she has a gift of courage. It takes courage to knock from one door to another, and even if they say no, to keep doing it.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

So she has strength.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

So instead of looking at this poor woman who needs some food or maybe clothes, she's actually a good marketer or something like that. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

I didn't give her a job, but I also didn't give her handouts because handouts is a relief situation, and when you give it to her, she's going to go to the next place and get handouts. So we I just saw her in the light of assets. So it's just a conscious effort of looking at people in assets, with assets. So there are other principles, there are four other principles, and I'll run through them very quickly. The other principle is place-based. What do you think it's about?

SPEAKER_00 11:12

So, Erica, you've mentioned uh that ABCD is loves geography.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Tell us about um that slogan that A B C D loves geography.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

A B C D is located in a place. It's not an idea that that is in the air. It has to be grounded in a place because two other principles rely on that. First, relationships, people are found in a place. So we'll also talk about the relationship principle, but also places where assets are found. And because ABCD, the key word C is community. People need to work together. So they need to have trusting relationships to be able to trust and share those resources. So I'll start with place-based. Place-based means just where they're located, the neighborhoods they are they are living in, the things that are around them, so they can be able to map them. Sometimes when you do a BCD well, you can walk through a community and look at this is where the river is, this is where the shops are, this is what. And it's also important because people who live together can easily work together without limitations of access.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

So in the past, we have tried, ourselves, we tried in one project to force people from different communities to work together. And this is what many people do, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

And it didn't work.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

It didn't work. I heard of a story recently when we were mapping out, we are trying to start a new project, and I was telling them we have to find people living in the same community. And they said, No, in our approach, we get people from there and there, and they are always complaining that they don't have a way of working. So it's the same thing that happened to us. So we we brought the young people from different communities together. We forced them to work together in the university. We didn't force them, but we designed our projects to have them work together because we thought that was inclusion. Yes. Then what ended up happening is every day there was an excuse. Oh, we can't meet. This is what, this is that. There was always an excuse because there was nothing that brought people together. And we, after training 300 youth, we had 20 teams, and out of 20 teams, only one group survived. And it was an outlier because they were just this only surviving group. But out of them, they invited us to the local communities and we trained youth who live in local communities, who every day wake up and walk within their communities. Out of the 33 teams we trained in that community, there were 23 active teams by the time we closed that project.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

And they were living and working within their communities. So the place-based is.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Because of the place based. Exactly. That's why you say geography.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Geography matters. And it goes with relationship because when they live together, they trust each other, they know each other. In a BCD, they choose someone who is called a connector who tries to who drives the change. A connector has to be someone who is known by the people, who is trusted.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Not a stranger.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Not a stranger.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Who must come from that very place?

SPEAKER_01 14:11

If you live 20 kilometers from here and I've never seen you before, why should I trust you with my land? Why should I trust you with my assets? Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Makes sense. What's the other one?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

So the five the other two is citizen-driven and inclusion. So with citizen-driven, who is a citizen's home?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Um, someone who belongs to that community.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

So what we try to help communities understand is that they are the citizens in their homes, in their communities, but also in their situations. When I come into this home and I've just come for today, how are you going to treat me? Who are mine?

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Respectfully as a visitor.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yes. Would you be comfortable if I started going into your bedroom and telling me this is how you should do this and this is how you should put this?

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Not at all.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Why?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Because you are a visitor, you're supposed to stay, sit where I put you to sit, stay in the sitting room, only go to the bedroom that I show you, you know, when the time comes.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Visitors are meant to be given, to be to receive. They are not meant to make decisions and to do different things. So in the local context, we help them to understand that they are the owners of the homes. They are the citizens. Because they are the citizens, they understand the visitors. They understand their communities better than anyone. The truth is, everywhere you go, the community is always going to be the expert.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

No matter how many years you spend. I had a lecturer in one of the courses I was studying in the UK, and you imagine that our lecturer was an expert in Uganda. And I asked him, How long have you been in Uganda? He said he had spent six months there. And I had classmates who are Ugandans. I said, Is he the expert of Uganda? You have lived in Uganda all your life. You know, the citizens of that country will always be the experts. They know where the best soil is, the best ground if you're doing agriculture. They have so many solutions, you'll be surprised.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

And if you wanted to implement a project dealing with agriculture, they would advise you where to go.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

But we we start by saying they don't know anything. But they are the citizens. So a project should come from the community, not from us. That's a citizen person.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Wow. In other words, um uh under citizen led, it's development by the community.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

This reminds me of John Maxwell who said um people keep what they help to create.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

If they are not involved in creating it, they will as well not keep it.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Exactly. They won't value it. When you give them these cows or you give them all these things, they come back and you don't have them. You know what ends up happening?

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Sometimes you find they have eaten them, man. They are not the citizens of that thing. Yeah. So the last principle is inclusion, and it's as simple as every person in that community has a gift regards to loss of the labels. Those who are living with disabilities, the old, the poor, the young, everybody plays a role.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

They have something to offer.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

They have something to offer. The good ABCD project is where everybody plays a role. Because there's actually a game where we play, where you identify the gifts of other people. What I know and what other people know. That's very key in ABCD.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah. So don't exclude people because they have disabilities or because they belong to a given social group or something like that, because everybody uh has something to offer.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

And I want to say something about people living with disabilities because it's it's I found that what I have found is that those who don't believe in them are those who work with them, work with them, who serve them. Because we look at them from a lens of oh, they have these disabilities, they have nothing. But there is no person who God has created under the surface of this earth without a gift, even those that are deemed with disabilities. So that's something that we need to always encourage ourselves to remove the lens, focus on what's working and not what's not.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Yes. Great. So today uh we looked at uh um the five principles and uh those focused on asset-based, uh place-based citizen-led, um uh relationship-based as well as inclusion.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

And we learned that ABCD works not because it brings resources, but because it brings people together around what they already have.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

What next?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

So, in our next episode, we are going to tackle the elephant in the room. We're going to be talking about what our role is. Right now, people are thinking, okay, now do I go and close my organization in Africa or do I close my church right now? Do we not do the project that we were supposed to do last week? Even us, sometimes in Africa, we go back to our home communities trying to go and solve things. Maybe we have already mobilized resources to go there. So, do I not do it? The community doesn't need me. So we'll be discussing what is our role and how should we see ourselves as facilitators, not fixers. Not people taking a solution, but people going to cooperate with the local and existing solutions within those communities.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Thank you, Erica. Sounds interesting. Looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Thank you for joining us today. For more episodes, please visit our website chromboca.org slash podcast.