The trap to avoid is to think that anything that isn't as big, or as inspiring as a large march is not making a difference. It is important to remember that we have hundreds of opportunities for nonviolent direct action every day. These smaller actions will all contribute to changing minds, and ultimately, to changing policy. I wrote a short piece with links to some resources on nonviolent direct action. You can view it here.
Congratulations, Charles! What a lovely idea -- people determining their own "state of happiness and success."
Pat, go to the ABCD Institute website and see the "asset mapping tools" section of the Tool Kit http://www.abcdinstitute.org/toolkit/index.html
Hi Damara. The "coaching" that you describe seems to be focused on the self-actualization of the individual. It would be possible to be surrounded by a whole bunch of self-confident, self-reflexive people, and have little or no community development. For me, ABCD has always been about community organizing, and collaborative leadership. Sure, sometimes you need a bit prodding or appreciative inquiry to uncover assets, but the endeavor is ultimately about relationships between people who decide to act together.
You might want to look at the Cultural Wellness Center in Minneapolis. http://www.culturalwellnesscenter.org/
Hi Jim,
Quantifying this would be difficult, and might actually provide a distorted picture of the utility of the approach.
I believe that the most effective use on ABCD exists when there is collaborative leadership between people who arent necessarily getting paid to help create the change. Each day folks around the world are practicing ABCD without the permission of, or the controlling hand of an NGO or government agency.
There are certainly examples of projects that had a nonprofit or local government in some leadership role, but to try to quantify that subset alone seems a little dangerous to me. I have seen a number of projects led by institutions, that claimed to be using an ABCD framework, but were, in fact, simply engaging in exercises to map the assets of other institutions interested in a particular issue. Of course, this isnt always the case, but counting institution-driven attempts is going to overlook many, many promising strategies.
Perhaps a better approach is to compile stories of success. They are all over this site, and on the ABCD Institute site. Success stories will shine light on the role of institutions as a partner, as opposed to a program developer. We used the story approach for a book meant to inform higher educations rolein asset-based work. People seemed to respond to it.
Hi, Thomas,
This post I did a while back might be helpful
http://abcdinaction.ning.com/profiles/blogs/addressing-common-misunderstandings-about-abcd
Hi Sara,
You might look at the agreement that has Metropolitan State University's library also serve as a branch of the public library system in St. Paul. In addition to shared space, I believe they also engage in collaborative program program development.
Hi Kimberleigh,
You might want to look at the book, "Toxic Charity," by Robert Lupton. It provides not only examples, but also a framework to explain the change in approach to church members. Good luck
Let me clarify. My point about experts was not to diminish the value of institutions, and the wealth of assets that they bring to the table. The production of goods and services (the primary role of institutions) is a critical function in the day-to-day life of communities, and can contribute greatly to the strategies communities create to address the challenges that they face.
My point was to call attention to the frequent disconnect between the goals of academia and academic practitioners (and other expert consultants), to the goals of communities. Pure research around the periphery of an issue, or validation of activities and outcomes by an outside entity, is only important if it is community-based participatory research, where the folks organizing on the ground have created the research agenda, and have a plan for its use to support community goals.
