Appreciating assets: a new report from the International Association for Community Development (IACD)

Burkett, Ingrid

doi:10.1093/cdj/bsr054

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…A strengths-based approach (SBA) is an emerging approach in development practice to operationalise participatory development principles [18,8]. Other proponents of the approach emphasize a focus on both assets and strengths [5,19,20,21,22,4].…”

Section: Conceptualising Relational Networking and Cultural Assetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-inventing Community Development: Utilizing Relational Networking and Cultural Assets for Infrastructure Provision

Fonchingong¹

2018

Preprint

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Utilizing relational networking and cultural assets provide an arena for village development associations (VDAs) to fill the gaps in infrastructure in resource limited communities of Cameroon's north-western region. Through case study, this study interrogates the foundational thesis of relational networking and cultural assets deployed to deal with social development challenges.Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with community participants. Purposive sampling was used, and data were analysed and critically synthesized with comparable literature. Communities increasingly shoulder their own development through a multiplicity of agency with internal and external stakeholders. The analysis captures a typology of incremental cultural assets, galvanised and re-engineered, promoting a rejuvenated community. A multi-layered approach centred on intersecting elements with unvarying input from community members are perceptible. Though the translational benefits are not clear-cut, relational networking and incremental cultural assets hold out the prospect for community transformation in infrastructure provision -supply of fresh water, equipping schools, community halls, building roads, bridges and community halls. In the process, social inequality and other barriers of disadvantage are narrowed.

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Section: Conceptualising Relational Networking and Cultural Assetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-inventing Community Development: Utilizing Relational Networking and Cultural Assets for Infrastructure Provision

Fonchingong¹

2018

Preprint

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“…Given the ambiguous position of the elite in engineering local development, the theoretical literature situating agency, community empowerment, capability (strengths-based approach) and relational networking is essential in understanding the contextual realities. The strengths-based approach is an emerging approach in development practice to operationalise participatory development principles originally proposed by Robert Chambers (1983;) (see Burkett, 2011;Ford Foundation, 2002;Cunningham, 2003, 2008;O'Leary et al, 2011;Willetts et al, 2013). This approach has roots in the concept of relational networking and draws on the work of Bourdieu (1986) and Giddens (1984), who argue that a network focus can provide insights into how micro-level relationships combine to create and/or challenge broader social structures.…”

Section: Conceptual Grounding: Agency Social Capital Empowerment Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoring up local development initiatives: elderly elite and conscientised empowerment in Cameroon

Fonchingong¹

2017

International Development Planning Review

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The elderly elite constitute a category of social actors implicated in local development through consciousness-raising. The analytic ideas of empowerment and agency, asset-based approaches, social capital, and relational networking inform this paper. Utilising a case study approach, and empirical accounts from the Ndong Awing Cultural and Development and Association (NACDA), in the North-West Region of Cameroon, this article explores conscientised empowerment, a strategy deployed to awaken the local community for social change. The interplay of sociocultural dynamics, gender considerations, community mobilisation and sustainability are intricately balanced, resulting in the community being revived through a renewed development mindset. While expectations of elite involvement remain grandiose; the elite involved in this village-centric development project navigate community aspirations while safeguarding their self-interests. Though elite involvement proves contentious, the community is galvanised by a development manifesto calibrated through relational networking. Local development policy and planning require the harnessing of incremental community resources, building on the agency of key stakeholders, in synergy with the state and other external partners, to realise an effective repositioning of social development.

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“…Burkett (2011) asserts that ABCD and related approaches have suffered from a lack of the academic inquiry and reflexive practice that have been applied in the broader community development field. In the social work and organizational management fields, however, the academic literature on SBA is more developed, with theoretical insights presented concerning SBAs, their basis for creating change and an evaluation of their effectiveness.…”

Section: Summary Framework To Describe Sbamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They propose that the recognition of strengths is more likely to inspire positive action rather than a focus on needs and problems, and describe the empowering potential of an SBA process (Mathie and Cunningham 2008, 122): 'The logical consequence of focusing on assets, capacities, and capabilities is to encourage a proactive role for the citizen, replacing the passive, dependent role of client in the welfare service delivery model of community development practice.' More recently, there has been debate about whether a SBA collectively represents a 'new' approach to development, or is 'rediscovered' traditional community development (Burkett 2011). This paper does not seek to resolve this debate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Pioneers in this work include Cunningham (2003, 2008) and a range of organizations which adopted approaches focused on 'assets' or strengths (Ford Foundation 2002;Burkett 2011;O'Leary, Burkett, and Braithwaite 2011;Willetts et al 2013). Mathie and Cunningham (2003) point to the mixed results of mainstream participatory development practice due to an efficiency focus or limitations in the extent of community engagement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The practice of a strengths-based approach to community development in Solomon Islands

Willetts

Asker

Carrard

et al. 2014

Development Studies Research

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This paper presents empirical findings from research undertaken in Solomon Islands to examine the use of strengths-based approaches (SBAs) by a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A summary framework was developed to underpin the analysis, drawing on literature in social work, organizational management, community development, and international development fields. The paper employs this framework to reflect on the practice of six NGOs working in partnership in Solomon Islands over 2009-2014. The findings demonstrate alignment between the NGO practice in Solomon Islands and SBA philosophy and practice as described in the literature, particularly in terms of adherence to beliefs about innate community capacity, the need to draw on community resources to create change, and the delicate balance between a strengths focus and repression of problems that might need to be surfaced. The findings diverged from the literature in how NGOs saw their role. Whilst they saw themselves as facilitators rather than experts, they also saw the development process as a partnership between themselves and communities rather than community led. This paper contributes empirical evidence of the characteristics, complexities and limitations of implementing a SBA in Solomon Islands, including reflections on the tension between self-help and advocacy development strategies.

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Appreciating assets: a new report from the International Association for Community Development (IACD)

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Re-inventing Community Development: Utilizing Relational Networking and Cultural Assets for Infrastructure Provision

Re-inventing Community Development: Utilizing Relational Networking and Cultural Assets for Infrastructure Provision

Shoring up local development initiatives: elderly elite and conscientised empowerment in Cameroon

The practice of a strengths-based approach to community development in Solomon Islands

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