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Established by St. Francis Xavier University in 1959, the
Coady International Institute is world-renowned as a centre
of excellence in community-based development. Asset-Based
Community Development (ABCD) is one of the Coady International
Institute’s strategic areas of focus.
ABCD is
an approach that recognizes the strengths, gifts, talents
and resources of individuals and communities and helps communities
to mobilize and build on these for sustainable development.
By focusing on assets and capacities rather than needs and
deficiencies, energy is directed toward opportunities at the
community level, while remaining conscious of how the policy
environment could be changed to further strengthen community
capacity to drive its own development.
The overall goal of the Coady International Institute’s
work in ABCD is to develop research, practice, and educational
program delivery capacity by:
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documenting and analyzing existing international examples
of
community-driven and asset-based development;
- exploring
ways in which an asset-based community development approach
can be successfully applied in various international contexts
in order to stimulate community driven development;
- assessing
the implications of an asset-based approach for the role
of NGOs, local governments and other intermediaries; and
- identifying
the optimal policy and regulatory environment for the successful
application of asset-based community development.
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