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The Story of Asset-Based Community Development in Essex

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) challenges the traditional deficit-based approach that tried to solve urban and rural development problems. It proposes that local assets (people and physical assets like local parks) are key to ensure sustainable community development, and that people have a life of their own choosing. For ABCD, the focus must always start on what is strong, not what is wrong. ABCD is the way to build healthier, safer, prosperous and more inclusive communities from the ground up, with citizens in the lead. It invites us to understand that people, their families and communities have unique competencies that cannot be replaced by professional intervention. The only people who can build community are the people who live, and work there.

Since 2019, a proactive approach has been taken by Essex LDP to understand ABCD, with an aim to using it to underpin our work, using the existing strengths and passions within local communities to drive up physical activity levels and embed good practice across the LDP network.

 

 

Asset Based Community Development is a key part of the Active Essex Foundation. By working with a network of locally trusted organisations they are committed to respond to what is going on in local communities and being able to enhance what is already happening in the communities of Essex, Southend and Thurrock.

To date through the Local Delivery Pilot and with support of Nurture Development we have trained over 250 practitioners of ABCD along with 12 guides and funded a further leadership course.

 

About the workshop:

Delivered by 2 facilitators in person ABCD-E (Asset Based Community Development Essex) is an interactive in person workshop designed to help you understand what we mean by asset based community development, how using a strengths based approach can support the communities you work with and influence decision makers to think differently about communities. We will explore what makes a community and the strengths within it, share some real examples of how this work has been done in local areas. This workshop is aimed as an introduction/reaffirming of ABCD knowledge.

We use examples from Essex and tailor content to the audience to ensure that we are able to give your team a relatable experience. We will ask some pre-workshop questions as well to ensure we understand who is in the room and what they may want to get from attending.

We are offering closed workshops to you and your teams (up to 25 people) delivered by 2 facilitators.

 

Full Day workshop: £2250

Half Day workshop: £1500

What has happened? Why (was this action taken or why has it worked)?
Nurture Development were chosen as partners with Essex LDP following research and conversations with networks. Essex LDP needed an expert partner. Nurture Development (ND) were chosen because they are recognised as world leaders for training in ABCD
Initially a smaller LDP team (project leaders and coordinators) were trained, followed by the wider team. This gave the team a deeper understanding of ABCD which was used to shape the way place-based working was done and how resources from Sport England were used.
Three LDP coordinators were set up to work at a local level in our target areas of Basildon, Colchester and Tendring. Microgrants were also set up to support the community with their ideas.

The LDP coordinators engaged people by helping facilitate connections between people, information, and opportunities.

 The coordinators were intended to be people on the ground who were easily accessible with the potential to influence the community.                                                  

Their roles included ensuring nurturing of community-generated activities enabling communities do it by themselves.
Coordinators identified ‘sticky’ people within communities (those who people in the community gravitate towards). It was thought that there would be a higher chance of the message being perceived as powerful, if not more powerful, than it is coming from a Local Authority staff member.
Free ABCD training through a physical activity lens was offered to known practitioners and managers from varying systems and sectors on a first come first served basis. This was with the aim of influencing the wider system, with the hope that if the system started to adopt the training, it would benefit the community.

 

Outcomes
  • The LDP and Nurture Development have so far trained over 300 practitioners and system leaders across Essex in ABCD, as well as piloting ABCD rapid reviews and stewardship circles (ABCD leadership programme developed by Nurture Development).
  • The high quality of the training and networking is why people stayed in touch with each other in terms of how they implement ABCD methods.
  • The training influenced how the LDP team worked and invested money.
  • The training has influenced our new 10-year physical activity strategy for Essex, ‘Fit for The Future’. Of the five strategic policies, strengthening communities is key.
  • The training has had an influence on senior system leaders, such as the Chief Executive of Colchester Borough Council and the Director of North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group.
Learning
  • In 2019, the LDP had not thought about a legacy plan, this is only happening now.
  • It would have been useful to bring everyone who had received training together as an effective network.
  • It is important to be selective about the organisation used to deliver training and the people offered training when focusing on physical activity.
  • The LDP could benefit from doing more groundwork before rolling out training into some areas.
  • There are challenges of working with communities resistant to considering ABCD because of culture within council.
  • Precipitating citizenship and community building should be the starting point, not as an effort to save the system money, but to reduce the levels of institutionalization.
What's next?
  • We hope that the stewardship circle comes together, sponsored by Active Essex, and becomes a strong advocate for ABCD, in addition to showing evidence of how ABCD has made a difference in their organisations.
  • We hope to have a clear legacy programme linked to Active Essex.
  • We hope to establish a network of everyone who attended the training.
  • We hope that over time there is a decreased role of LDP coordinators as community takes more control.
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