ABCD – Development of educational programs and materials

The Coady International Institute runs a two-week certificate in Asset-Based and Citizen-Led Development that is also available as a specialization block in its Diploma in Development Leadership.

The Institute is also willing to design and deliver shorter, customized versions of its ABCD educational programs. For example, 3-day, 5-day and 7-day courses and seminars have been offered in Egypt, Ethiopia, India, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.

An Asset-based Approach to Community Development Practitioner Manual, India (3.35 Mb pdf)
The Self Employed Women’s Association’s mandate and its work on the SEWA Jeevika (livelihood security) project has emphasized respect for the disadvantaged and for the power of collective action. An asset-based approach to community development is faithful to both these traditions. This manual brings together an understanding of factors determining livelihood security with a way of working with people at the village level. It relies on field workers who recognize the assets, experience and knowledge of the most disadvantaged. It can help people to identify opportunities to collaborate together to improve their prospects, and further help them to make the social and institutional connections that will sustain an upward trend in their living conditions over the longer term.

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Practitioner Manual, India (3.33 Mb pdf)
This manual is a companion volume to “An Asset-based Approach to Community Development” (above). In the case of participatory monitoring and evaluation, the Village Organizer is helping to build the capacity of villagers to monitor and evaluate the community initiatives that they have planned at the JSM level. PM&E is therefore an important means of strengthening decision-making at the village level.

Who is Driving Development? Reflections on the Transformative Potential of Asset-Based Community Development (165K pdf)
Coady International Institute Occasional Paper Series, No. 5.
Alison Mathie & Gord Cunningham
[A shorter version is published in the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2005]

Does ABCD Deliver on Social Justice? (259K pdf)
Alison Mathie.