Major Concept: ABCD – Asset Based Community Development
Gospel Connection: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Review of prior Sessions:
Definition of Poverty
Four Broken Relationships
Poverty Alleviation
God-Complex
Dependency
Types of Help: Relief, Rehabilitation, Development
Paternalism
Opening Exercise:
15 Minutes
Break up into pairs or small groups.
Practice Asset Mapping in the groups.
Have one person asked – What do you need? What do you lack in life?
Have a different person asked – What can you do? What are your gifts and talents?
Have the groups discus with the larger group how the two sets of questions made the person asked feel.
Discuss the difference between need-based development and asset-based development.
Reflection Question:
What is the next step after determining if you should apply relief, rehabilitation, or development?
Video:
15 minutes - Lesson 4
Reinforcement:
· 4 Key Elements of ABCD
Identify and mobilize the capabilities, skills, and resources of the individual or community. See poor people and communities as full of possibilities, given to them by God.
As much as possible, look for resources and solutions to come from within the individual or community, not from the outside.
Seek to build and rebuild the relationships among local individuals, associations, churches, businesses, schools, government, etc. God intended for the various individuals and institutions in communities to be interconnected and complementary.
Only bring in outside resources when local resources are insufficient to solve pressing needs. Be careful about bringing in resources that are too much or too early. Do this in a manner that does not undermine local capacity or initiative.
Participation isn’t just a means to an end, having people participate in stewarding their God given gifts and resources is a valid end in itself.
Outside assets blind people to the assets they have.
Rather than trying to “fix” people, we are engaging in relationships with them. In the process, “we” are finding out how impoverished we are and how much we need “them” in order to see our own spiritual poverty.
Optional Exercise – If you did the Indonesian exercise in Session 1, revisit it here.
Retrieve the Poster Papers and get back into your original groups
Inform the class that we will examine our plans in light of what we have learned so far.
Give 2-3 minutes for each group to review their plans
Ask the following questions to the whole group
What implicit assumptions about the nature of poverty and its alleviation are reflected in your plan?
How might an awareness of marred view of self among the poor have modified your plans?
Do you see any evidence of a god-complex in the way you designed your project?
Does your plan focus on people and processes or only on projects and products?
Did you address the brokenness in both individuals and systems?
Did the design of your trip reflect an accurate assessment as to which of the three approaches (relief, rehabilitation, development) is appropriate for the context?
How could you make your project more “developmentally” aligned?
Were you at all paternalistic in your approach to this project?
Did you use an asset-based or a needs-based approach to this project?
Is your project participatory?
What have you learned about yourself?
Are there any changes you would like to ask God to make in you
Optional – The Rest of the Story
Four months after the tsunami hit, a Christian relief and development organization working in Indonesia asked the Chalmers Center for help in designing a small-business recovery program. We sent two young staff members to the region and provided technical backup support to them from our home office in the United States. We share this story not to show you how smart we are— our failures outnumber our successes!— but because we believe the story illustrates many of the principles presented in this book. In considering whether or not to accept this request to work in Indonesia, we were greatly influenced by the fact that a well-respected relief and development organization on the ground was requesting our help. This organization had an outstanding track record of soliciting input from the local people, so we knew from the outset that our presence was in response to the wishes of the community and not something we were forcing on them. While such a participatory approach is always important, it was particularly crucial in this case because this militant Muslim region was notorious for its hostility to outsiders in general and to Christians in particular. The region had been devastated, but the downward spiral had stopped for the most part. Hence, rehabilitation and development, not relief, were the appropriate next steps. In an attempt to identify the relevant local assets and the most significant obstacles, our staff interviewed and consulted with the local leaders of ten small-business associations, individual business owners, and the mayor, discovering the following:
They had a strong history of people using their own savings for business capital.
In contrast to most settings in the Majority World, a remarkable bank had a history of providing savings and loan services to very poor people and it was well-trusted. Unfortunately, the bank’s offices had been severely damaged, and it was low on loan capital.
Businesses in the region were organized into strong guilds organized by the type of business: a baker’s guild, a carpenter’s guild, a rickshaw guild, etc.
The mayor had an attitude of wanting to work with these guilds and with the Christian relief and development organization.
There was a strong sense of community spirit exhibited in Gotong Royong, a practice of coming together as a group to solve problems, not unlike an Amish barn raising.
Local labor was in abundance, as many had lost their livelihoods.
Local construction firms existed but had been damaged by the tsunami.
A lack of capital was identified as the primary obstacle to restarting the small businesses. The obvious solution in such a situation would be to bring in construction crews to rebuild the businesses’ shops and to set up a micro-enterprise development program to lend money to these businesses. Right? Wrong. This approach might undermine the local construction firms, the culture of savings, the remarkable bank, local knowledge and authority, and community spirit. While the level of devastation did require outside resources to restore the city and these businesses to their pre-tsunami conditions, the trick was to introduce such resources without undermining the assets that had been identified and the stewardship abilities of the Indonesian people. In particular, how could business capital be introduced quickly without undermining the culture of savings and the local bank? Toward that end, it was decided that Phase I of the program would involve giving mini-grants of capital to small-business owners to enable them to restart their businesses. However, receiving such grants was conditional upon the business owners’ presenting evidence of having had a small business before the tsunami, of opening a savings account with the local bank, and of participating in a Gotong Royong to clean up buildings and streets, including the office of the local bank. The evidence presented was reviewed by a committee of leaders from the guilds and local government. By design, the first grants were given to the local construction firms so that they— not outsiders— could rebuild the devastated buildings and homes, thereby reestablishing their construction businesses. Phase I also included a short series of small-business training sessions for the low-income entrepreneurs. These lessons included important technical material and related biblical principles. Thus, Muslim small-business owners received an exposure to the Scriptures in a practical way. Poverty-alleviation efforts often need to address both broken systems and individuals, including a clear articulation of the gospel and a biblical worldview. Phase II began eight weeks after Phase I and consisted primarily of a matched savings program to provide additional business capital while encouraging local savings and the reestablishment of the bank. Recipients of the mini-grants in Phase I again had to present evidence of a consistent pattern of savings over the eight weeks to the local review committee. Each individual’s savings were then matched with outside funds at a two-to-one ratio, with the matching funds being placed into their savings accounts at the bank. Another series of small-business training classes incorporating a Christian worldview was offered. As with any program there were ups and downs, but the overall success was significant. Hundreds of businesses received assistance, local institutions were strengthened, and the midterm project evaluations indicated improvements in people’s relationships with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. Moreover, the highly participatory approach enabled the Christian relief and development organization to establish a great deal of trust with the normally suspicious Indonesians, resulting in the organization being able to expand the small-business recovery program to other parts of Indonesia. Even a major, secular, international humanitarian organization was impressed with the results and invited the Christian organization to submit a grant proposal for funding to scale up the program. The principles outlined in this book are not a magic formula for success. But they are powerful, and they have been used by God in even extremely difficult settings that are quite hostile to the gospel.
Review Questions: (Omit if running long due to optional exercise)
1. Discuss ways that we can “Asset-Map” in the communities in which we work. How do we get people to tell us their gifts, skills, and abilities?
2. Read and discuss James 2:1-5 in relation to this session.
3. What might you have to sacrifice in order to employ a participation based approach?
Gospel Close:
Review the Gospel Connection verses
The context of these verses is that Jesus will return at any time, without notice. Since, we know that we have salvation in Christ, we should live in a way that is pleasing to him.
These verses tell us to build up fellow Christians and to encourage one another. How can we expand that verse to encourage those we engage with for development purposes?
How can we best apply an Asset Based Community Development approach in light of the Bible’s message to love others and to build up?
Pray