Asset-based transformation
Asset-Based Church and Community Transformation (ABCCT) is a family of approaches that encourage churches to work in and with communities to see poverty reduced holistically and sustainably – to bring life in all its fullness.
When I remember how I was before the process was introduced in this church, I laugh at myself. I was feeling and looked very old, but after doing resource mobilization Bible studies, my eyes were opened, my hands energized, and my spirit challenged me to identify resources around my home and utilize them. Today my farm has enough food, my cow produces enough milk for family consumption and sale, I am happy and look younger today.
Asset based approaches take as their starting point the God-given gifts, skills, experience and resources already present in a community. They differ from traditional approaches to development which have tended to focus on a problem, need or challenge that a project is set up to correct. Often, the need is identified by someone from outside of the community and, usually, the project depends on outside donor funding. This can be very disempowering for the community, even if they benefit from the project itself. This is because such a needs-based approach focuses only on what the community does not have, rather than balancing this with looking at what the community does have – and using it.
Being poor and marginalized, community leaders and the rich assumed for a long time that our ideas did not count, but since we got mobilized and empowered, people come from far to learn from us, and elected leaders invite representatives from our communities in county decision making forums …. our voice counts today.
Increasingly, the Church is moving towards asset based approaches. This is where communities are the agents of their own change. Together, communities look at both their challenges and their assets (capabilities, resources, skills and experience). Together, communities decide on their priorities for change, come up with project ideas and plans and put them into practice using the community’s assets – often without outside help or funding. This assets-based approach is far more empowering and sustainable.
Find out more about ABCCT:
Many names, one vision
ABCCT approaches go by different names in different places, but all involve the church
working with the community rather than for the community. The processes takes longer than standard development models but produce deeper change. Asset-based approaches to church and community transformation have been adopted and contextualised in many Anglican provinces and are increasingly being included within the curriculum of theological education.
These approaches share the same core concepts but have different names and, in some cases, are integrated into thematic initiatives:
- Umoja
• Church and Community Mobilisation
• Asset-Based Community Development (E-Care, Philippines)
• Sangsangai (the Church and Community Transformation approach used in Nepal)
• Pastors and Disasters
• The Resilience Course
• Agents of Change
What are the underlying principles of ABCCT?
- Kingdom and biblical foundation for whole-life transformation
- Restoration of relationships with self, others, the environment and God
- A mindset change rather than a project or programme
- Facilitated, not taught, with participatory tools
- The church breaks out of the building to become ‘Salt and Light’ in the community
- Breaking of dependency mentality through mobilising local resources
- Community and church working together for the common good
- Adapted to the local context
Watch Annam Arunamayagam talk about Asset Based Community Development in her region of East Asia. Annam is the Anglican Alliance’s former East Asia facilitator.
Asset-based transformation, Kenya.
Agents of Change is a programme developed by the Anglican Alliance which takes an asset -based approach to church and community transformation. Find out about Agents of Change here.
This short video from Tearfund – one of the Anglican Alliance’s partners – shows the difference in approach that ABCCT brings.
ABCCT and the Anglican Alliance
The Anglican Alliance:
- Brings together practitioners to share learning and experience.
- Promotes asset-based approaches within the Anglican Communion.
- Incorporates asset-based thinking and principles into all our areas of work.
- Maintains an active Community of Practice in Asia.
- Supports churches in contextualising approaches, for example in the Diocese of Jerusalem.
- Has developed the Agents of Change course (Link).
- Helps to convene the Anglican Umoja Family, which includes Tearfund (a Christian agency which led on developing the Umoja resources), the Mothers’ Union, the Council for Anglican Provinces in Africa and other Anglican agencies that share the vision of supporting the churches to be equipped to lead transformational, holistic mission. This coalition supports networking, training of local facilitators and development of thematic toolkits.