Who is Driving Development? Reflections on the Transformative Potential of Asset-based Community Development

Abstract

ABSTRACT Arising out of a critique of needs-based approaches to development, asset-based community development (ABCD) offers a set of principles and practices to mobilize and sustain community economic development. This paper draws attention to the connections between these principles and practices and current interest in sustainable livelihoods as a conceptual framework, the concept of social capital the social psychology of mobilization, the enhancement of capacity and agency to engage as citizens with the entitlements of citizenship, the role of multiple stakeholders, and the issue of control over the development process. Finally, the paper points to the challenges for NGOs employing an asset-based, community-driven approach given the needs-based, problem-solving paradigm in which they operate.