Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)

Typically, politicians want to talk about their plans and their policies - and what they are going to achieve for the people they represent and what they have already delivered. And so on. And I have done this in the posts below. 

But with this article I want to talk about something that many politicians shy away from because they imagine themselves to be the generals, choosing the next hill to be captured, the next battle to be fought. It is then up to the junior ranks to get the job done. I think political leadership is about far more than that. 

I want to talk about how communities are improved for all. I want to talk about how I think councils - specifically Buckinghamshire Council and Buckingham Town Council - should operate. 

All this comes back to how local councils see themselves - and in turn, how local citizens see them. How do you see your local council, be it the Town/Parish or County? Are these bodies

• providers of services in exchange for the council tax you pay?
• an agency trying to improve the well-being and prosperity for local communities?
• regulators who use laws (like planning or environmental health) to control what happens around you?
• interfering 'busybodies' who should get a life and leave people alone? (!)
• arguably, all of these, at various times...? 

In your relationship with these councils are you simply a customer / consumer / purchaser of these services? And if the services are not done as they should be (eg failing to collect your waste bin) then you rightly complain to the service provider directly or to your councillor. In other words, you see the councillors mainly as managers of complaints? 

Or do you see the councillors as people who shape all these services independently of you? You trust them to get on with the job of driving up efficiency and driving down the taxes taken. Your job is mostly to vote every few years for people who broadly agree with you and then let them get on with it? 

If so, this makes you a customer and occasional voter. And many councils treat their citizens just like this and often expect no more. True, there is the odd time where some consultation is carried out to test people's opinions. But more often than not, the councils would rather leave people alone. Meanwhile the councils are happy to be left alone and get on with the business, by a mostly happy bunch of 'customers'.  

My view (and please forgive me for taking a while to get to this point!) is that councils can and should be far more than this. Councils should engage in ABCD:

"Asset Based Community Development builds on the assets that are found in the community and mobilizes individuals, associations, and institutions to come together to realise and develop their strengths. This makes it different to a Deficit Based approach that focuses on identifying and servicing needs. From the start an Asset Based approach spends time identifying the assets of individuals, associations and institutions that form the community. The identified assets from an individual are matched with people or groups who have an interest in or need for those strengths. The key is beginning to use what is already in the community. Then to work together to build on the identified assets of all involved." (https://www.nurturedevelopment.org/asset-based-community-development/ - where there is much more information there about this philosophy) 

This casts the roll of councils as facilitators, organisers and nurturers of community well-being. In this model, citizens are co-producers of a society in which people are healthier, wealthier and wiser... 

Much of what both Buckinghamshire Council and Buckingham Town Council currently do is about this. But there is much, much more than could be done. If you elect me, I will be using my influence to help nudge both councils into becoming ABCD Councils. 

Why?

Because so much more can be created when councils and citizens work together, in a deep partnership, to co-produce the kinds of communities we all want. I want our communities to

• thrive and buzz 
• raise young people to be great and optimistic 
• have greener footprints
• have less crime, fear and loneliness
• be filled with vibrant and profitable businesses 
• be healthier, enjoying all that our towns and villages have to offer 

I think we are under-using our assets and creativity. I think we can make all this happen. If you think so too, please vote for me and we can work on this together. 

People working together to shape better futures for all