Introductions and first impressions are now a thing of the past, whether I like it or not. The meat of my work here for Oxfam Canada begins now as we ramp up to the final evaluation for asset- based and community driven projects here in Ethiopia. Oxfam Canada, for those who don't know, is not an implementing organization in Ethiopia. Oxfam works through local partners or community based organizations (CBOs) who already know the "lay of the land" so to speak. This type of approach puts the project facilitation role in the hands of those who are familiar with the language, political and social issues, and the local culture.
This is in direct contrast to my work in Southwest Uganda where I found myself at the ground level facilitating community meetings through translators. At times I found the language barrier and my inability to understand certain cultural implications as a major struggle for me and my team in Uganda. I also found the approach to be so resource oriented (we were building latrines and protecting springs) that it took a great deal of the important decision making process out of the hands of the community. That process is the freedom of the people to decide what actions are most important to the community. Those who use an asset-based and community-driven approach effectively, seek to shift the responsibility and decision-making of community development into the hands of the community in a positive and affirming manner.
The approach first asks the community to tell stories of past successes. What initiatives have the community taken on without any support from outside resources? This initiation immediately flips the traditional "needs-based" development discourse on its head. Instead of the community explaining what their needs and problems are and asking the NGO for help the community members are telling stories of how they have been successful change-makers in the lives of their family and community. This generates pride and confidence and sets the stage for positive dialogue.
The next step in the process is to ask the community to describe in detail its assets (skills and resources), it's community associations (savings groups, work groups, church groups.etc), and the institutions that support them (schools, hospitals, NGOs, government agencies...etc). What has been commonplace in Ethiopia, when asked “what are your shared and individual assets?” community members at first have answered "we have nothing" and when asked about community associations they often describe the NGOs that have been working with them.
Sample of associational mapping with specific details on relating to those associations including a simple ranking system of importance.
This is most likely a result of conditioning by the NGOs that constantly remind the community of what their problems and needs are and are always suggesting that they need to improve. This type of reinforcement leads communities on a self perpetuating cycle where people dwell on what they lack. Community members see themselves as inadequate, underdeveloped, and poor and thus they lose the confidence and motivation to assist their families and their community and feeds the “dependency syndrome.” This lost motivation leads humanitarian actors and government to point out their loss of motivation and the issues it has caused and the cycle begins again.
When in fact, after skilled probing by trained facilitators, we learn of a vast reservoir of skills, resources, and networks that lie under the surface of every community no matter how poor they may be. Sure, there are major issues and problems facing these communities but this approach provides organization and tools that will assist the community to tackle these problems based on their own unique skill sets, resources and networks. In Ethiopia we find that the community asset base is anchored in farming, pastoralism, hair styling, traditional home-building, basket and pottery making, money managing, small trading, owning land, strong laborers…etc. Their associations are groups related to traditional burials, traditional disaster safety nets, traditional savings, rotating funds, farming cooperatives, traditional festivals and celebrations, and the list goes on.
An elevated grain store to keep the grain safe from rats. One example of a community asset.
At this point, if the community has embraced the process they are feeling confident of their assets and are motivated to mobilize them and act. One final but crucial tool is a simple economic model known by the Coady Institute as "the Leaky Bucket" which community members create themselves. This model helps demystify local economics. In the rural communities we work with, the dominant trade is small-scale agriculture followed by livestock and small businesses. All of these are dependent on local markets. The model clarifies how money comes into the community, circulates within the community, and how it leaves. This simple 3 or 4 hour exercise is often a light bulb moment for community members. Wastage of funds often becomes clear and economic opportunities and niches become apparent. By improving economic efficiency communities are able to unlock economic resources and use them for accomplishing community driven actions. If you are interested in learning more about this outstanding community tool please follow this Coady Institute link which describes ways in which the “Leaky bucket” has been used to date (http://coady.stfx.ca/tinroom/assets/file/OP9.pdf).
Simplified example of a leaky bucket diagram showing inflows, outflows, and circulation of funds within the community. Figure is taken from the above link. The article is written by Gord Cunningham of the Coady Institute.
The community is now ready to make an action plan by linking their assets with the appropriate associations and using their community economic model. Obviously communities are deeply complex and layered by their diversity and personalities. To make matters more challenging we have outside forces at play including government, private interests and NGOs which makes this work as challenging as any undertaking I can think of. So the process is not without its difficulties. It once again comes down to the skill and effectiveness of those local NGOs facilitating the process. They must use their knowledge of the community to appropriately apply the tools in a way that provides context and that resonates with the culture and the people. If they fail to do this then the process also will likely fall short. For a concrete example of asset-based and community-driven development approach in Ethiopia check out the following virtual tour of the community of Illu (Agahttp://coady.stfx.ca/work/abcd/explore/assets.htm).
This is a method that starts at the root, not the root of the problem, but the root of where the community potential lies. I am now at the tail end of eight years of asset-based and community-driven development work here in Ethiopia, and responsible for assisting with the documentation of the final evaluation process. Thus I will record the successes and challenges of introducing this approach in Ethiopia. Please stay tuned. Evaluation begins March 16th!
