Half Empty or Half Full?

In the development profession, we try to find sustainable solutions to existing problems  that can change community  welfare, increase capabilities, and  improve livelihoods. There are  two ways to look at a community  or an organization when seeking  to address its goals. Some  organizations take the Needs  Based Approach, which seeks  to understand the problems and  address them by filling in gaps.  Others employ the “Assets Based  Approach,” choosing to look at  the “full part of the glass,” and  finding the ways to utilize it to  the benefits of the community  (Kretzmann & McKnight, 1996). I  believe that the best way to assess  a community or an organization  is to do both, to assess the full  part of the glass, and then to  think about the needs. The  organization can then assess how  the community can overcome the  obstacles by harnessing the power  of its existing assets.  

According to Green, Moore &  and O’Brien (2006), In order to  instigate successful community  development initiatives, it is imperative to find the  community’s assets, empower  the community to work together,  and finally to create opportunities  for these assets to be productive.  By using the local assets, we  prevent the catastrophe of  creating dependency upon  external assets, that later on may  jeopardize the existence of the  project.  

Asset Based in Action –  Yenege Tesfa Organization,  Ethiopia 

I learned the importance of  Assets Based Development during  my Glocal internship in Gondar  Ethiopia with the Yenege Tesfa  organization – an organization  that works with street children  and provides them with shelter, food, and education. 

When we arrived to Gondar,  we began by observing the  organization, understanding its  assets and needs, and getting to  know the people with whom we  were to work. I understood that  the best project I could contribute  to is finding a way to create a  sustainable source of income  for the organization. Yenege  Tesfa was, at the time, entirely  dependent upon donations from  Europe. As is common around  the developing world, if the  donations were to stop, the children from the shelters would  be back in the streets in no time.  We discovered that one of  the many assets of Gondar is that  there is a tremendous amount  organic and non-organic garbage,  which is being thrown away  without utilizing its benefits.  We decided that we would use  it to create Organic Bio Fuel  Briquettes, and sell it as an  alternative to normal charcoal.  Not only is it a sustainable asset,  that can supply income for the  organization, but it is also good  for the environment – two birds with one stone! 

The next important issue  was to find local partners. The  University of Gondar was the  first choice, and they joined our  efforts in finding the right recipe,  as well as giving us land to work  on. This project is not finished  yet, and the Beta experiments  are still in progress, but if we  succeed, the potential will be huge. It will prove that we can  create a sustainable source of  income for an organization that  needs funding, and by doing so,  create a sustainable organization  that provides a steady, sustainable  solution for street kids. 

I have hope that we will  succeed, and I hope that more  organizations will find the way  to become more sustainable by  using the local assets that they  have. Every community has  assets, they just have to find  them, and understand that they can be utilized. 

Guy Cherni