I understand that the Leakey bucket has been a good approach for communities to use in creating their own local economies, what i would like to know is if the Leakey bucket can be used to analyse the local economy of a highly populated informal settlement "slum"  within the capital city.And can it be possible for this community to enhance its economic status using the analysed findings from the Leakey bucket...

Charles i find the leaky bucket works best in a village or neighbourhood context where the people live in more of a defined geographical space. However to answer the second part of your question, it should nonethleless be helpful for the community to understand their economic context which will bring to light the various opportunities that exist. So that could be an abundance of unused assets, a missing link in the supply chain, a service opportunity etc. Out of curiosity, where are you working?

Thank you for your response Jamie.But from your explanation if the Leakey Bucket is not the right tool to use in such an area, then which other tool can be used to analyse the economic status of such a community, if you know of any.I work in Nairobi Kenya.I work with NGAO SOCIETY where we use the ABCD model to enhance the lives of low income earners in the low income areas.

Hi Charles, i was just saying that in my experience the leaky bucket is particularly useful in more of a closed neighourhood or village setting. But it still is a valuable tool for the reasons mentioned.

Coady Inst. St. Francis Xavier Univ. (Nova Scotia Canada) & the Leaky Bucket

Coady Institute offers ABCD resources for citizen-led development and the Leaky Bucket as a tool to strengthen local economies:

• "Community Economic Literacy and the Leaky Bucket" (March 2011) 32p PDF
• Digital Leaky Bucket (DLB) is an online version of this economic-analysis tool that Coady graduates have been using with communities.  "Often used with ABCD activities."
• "The Integrated (household) Leaky Bucket" (2018) 20p PDF

Hi Charles, were you able to adapt the leaky bucket for the situation you described here?

I remember we were having a conversation around something similar when I met you in Nairobi.