Holistic economic community development best practice, using asset-based models as a foundation for sustainable and effective development.

1. Economic Development and ABCD

2. The mindset….
“All of life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all
indirectly”
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1969)

3. Key barriers for economic development
globally and in South Africa
Many of these issues could be resolved through simply starting with an asset based
approach…
• Lack of ownership of communities and lack of buy-in
• Dependence and entitlement of communities, from lower self-esteem and lack of
control
• Non-sustainable projects (in both the impact and financial sense)
• Lack of understanding of the local culture and community structures as well as how
success is defined by local communities
• Finding and addressing real root causes is difficult, leading to projects that do not
tackle the real underlying issues
• Lack of access to opportunities and finance – and distance from formal or
sophisticated markets
• Political instability, crime, and violence all compound other problems
• Corruption and misappropriation of development funds
Source:Simanye

4. Development issues are interwoven and complex,
making impact dependent on a range of factors
Enterprise
development
Supplier
development
Worker
productivity
Job Creation
Regional
development
Health
Education
Infrastructure
Food security
It is difficult to
address higher end
goals (such as
larger enterprise
development)
without looking at
how root causes
(poor health, lack of
education) have led
to the problems in
the first place.
Solutions must be
holistic and
focused on the
most salient issues
in order to create
real change.
Source:Simanye

5. Creating Shared Value begins with
understanding the context from multiple sides
COMMUNITY DRIVERS
• Jobs
• Training and skills development
• Business support
• Procurement opportunities and
supply chain access
• Financing
• Health
• Education
• Food security
• Infrastructure
GOVERNMENT DRIVERS
• Promote business growth and
job creation
• Keep citizens healthy and happy
• Ensure socio-economic
development
• Create political stability
• Integrated Development Plan
(IDP) alignment of initiatives
CORPORATION DRIVERS
• Profitable operations and
shareholder value
• Legislative and policy
compliance
• Healthy and productive staff
• Saving costs, reducing lead
times and increasing quality in
procurement
• Social licenses to operate
• Good public image and relations
• Infrastructure
Source:Simanye

6. Our approach: based on a sustainable livelihoods,
asset driven model
Simanye’s approach begins with a focus on assets (from social to financial and beyond),
and starts with the premise that communities know themselves best. Helping the
communities to mobilise their own assets and consider multiple factors to address
issues holistically therefore leads to ownership, impact and sustainable development.
Sustainable Livelihoods Framework: DFID
Source:Simanye

7. The key to creating sustainable impact
Clear goals and objectives
Adapting to the context and addressing key needs as well as responding to key assets
Considering economic, environmental, social and developmental variables
Bottom-up, community driven and collaborative processes
Partnerships for success
Innovation and research
Focus on cost efficiency and self-sustainability of projects
Source:Simanye

8. Community engagement process
Respect
Listen, understand, learn
Facilitate and educate, but do not impose or force
The community and local factor is the single greatest factor
– above economic, technical or other considerations
Source:Simanye

9. ABCD

10. What is ABCD?
“They will use what they have to secure what they have not”
- Rev. Dr. Moses Coady
• Asset Based Community (Driven) Development (ABCD).
• ABCD was developed by McKnight and Kretzmann (1993) in ‘Building
Communities from the Inside Out’
• Further developed by the COADY International Institute of St Xavier
University in Canada.
• In South Africa, ABCD is promoted in collaboration with Gordon Institute of
Business Science (GIBS) and also implemented by the Department of
Social Development
• The focus is on assets rather than needs, as well as letting communities
be the drivers of their own development process thus leading to ownership
and sustainability
Source:Simanye

11. Needs versus Assets
NEEDS BASED ASSET BASED
• Focuses on needs and what is missing • Focuses on what is already there and what
person or community has
• Intrinsically negative as regardless of how
developed a community it will always have
something missing
• Intrinsically positive – no matter how bad
things are there will always be assets
• Top-down, forced solutions • Bottom-up organic solutions
• Use of external experts • Use of local knowledge/expertise and
outside experts (mutual learning)
• Dis-empowering and creates low-self worth • Empowering
• Leads to dependence and entitlement mind-
set
• Leads to increased sustainability through
ownership of the process by the community
• Not conducive to partnerships • Conducive to partnerships
• Not tailored as solutions are not context
specific
• Context specific solutions
• Need for continued external interventions • Community becomes the long term manager
of own development
Source:Simanye

12. ABCD overview: process
Day 1
• Positive stories
• Assets
• Associations
• Power
Day 2
• Community
economic
analysis
• Mapping
Source:Simanye

13. ABCD overview: process
Day 3
• Transect
walks
Day 4
• Action
planning
• Success
indicators
Source:Simanye

14. The leaky bucket and demonstrating the
multiplier effect
Rural community
Assets: tree cutting skills
trees
Regional factory
Assets: factory and tools,
wood-work and carpentry
skills
Big city
Assets: mass markets,
brand, business skills,
scale
Sell: R 20 / pile
Profit margin: R 20
Sell: R 100 / chair
Profit margin: R80
R 220 / chair
Profit margin: R120
Source:Simanye

15. Value
Web
and
Microfranchising

16. And after ABCD? The Value Web!