By Liana, Skillseed Alumni, who volunteered at our ABCD Assembly last year
Of all the concepts I was introduced to during my time at Skillseed, Asset-Based Community Development (with the marvellous acronym ABCD) was one of my favourites. Such a logical, elegant way to structure thinking and processes around Change, that seeks first and foremost to empower and uplift. It puts the reins back into the hands of the community, and invites us to reframe how we look at the world – as a place blooming with possibilities.
All those reasons (and more!) are why I signed up quickly to be a volunteer for 2021’s run of the ABCD Assembly, finding myself finally in a place (i.e. recently transitioned from shift work) where weekends were my own again. Even if I hadn’t volunteered to be a note-taker, I probably would have found myself as a participant, with this year’s panel of speakers being an inviting list of familiar names and well-known initiatives.
Jean Loo helmed the ‘Ground-up Initiatives’ track as the founder of Superhero Me, a non-profit inclusive arts movement that aims to build bridges between children and people of all backgrounds and abilities using art as a form of empowerment.
Marcus Koe, a member of the Skillseed family and a name regularly invoked by Huijia and Wilson, led the ‘Environment’ track as the founder and farmer of Habitat Collective, an initiative that explores how we can live sustainably by leveraging natural and social capital.
With Mental Health at the forefront of many conversations over the past year, trained psychotherapist and counsellor Priyahnisha anchored the track as co-founder of Mental ACT, a non-profit organisation that champions mental health services and programmes for the Indian Community in Singapore.
And last but not least, headlining the ‘Education’ track was an incredibly familiar name – and one that I hadn’t expected to see, belonging to a person and organisation based in Chiang Mai. Wai Phyo Aung, also known as Ko (“Brother” in Burmese) Phyo, is Deputy Director of BEAM Education Foundation, an organisation dedicated to providing education services for marginalised migrant youth in Thailand – which was one of the anchor community partners for the very last programme I facilitated for Skillseed during my Gap Year Internship in 2018, The Adventurous Fellowship Chiang Mai, and hence holds a very special place in my heart.
From top left, clockwise: Our speakers, Wilson Chan (Prologue Speaker and Moderator for the Panel session), Jean Loo (Speaker for the Ground-up Initiative track), Wai Phyo Aung (Speaker for the Education track), Marcus Koe (Speaker for the Environment track), Priyahnisha (Speaker for the Mental Health track)
The speakers were candid in their sharing, speaking freely on their experiences, successes, pain points, and learnings. Many of their core takeaways for participants went back to the individual – going back, as Jean said, to that one person who made you stop, think, and question your assumptions; or building on our differences and celebrating our diversity to weave a tapestry of collective strength, as affirmed by Ko Phyo and Nisha. Finally, not discounting the power of small-scale groups and systems in building a sustainable relationship with nature, which undergirds Marcus’s philosophy. Even as they shared their different experiences from their own fields, all our speakers resonated and agreed that the potential for change-making is quite literally in our hands.
Questions from the participants were also thoughtful, curious, and at times challenging. They covered the spectrum of process pain points, from theoretically quizzing on each speakers’ ideal end-state, to queries that hinted at the frustration while trying to actualize ABCD on the ground. Somehow, the atmosphere of the Assembly was unlike some other panel programmes I have attended. There was less “distance” between panellists and participants, perhaps because of the shared experiences and understanding (see: struggles) that comes with trying to kick start a community programme. This common ground of understanding unconsciously facilitated the natural flow of conversations, where the questions and responses were not dry and academic, but rooted in lived experiences and framed by concrete examples.
It was, simply put, a wonderful experience. Many thanks to Dione, Rui Qi, and Mark, who were so helpful in the lead-up to the session, giving incredibly detailed advice and instructions on what to prepare. It’s always a pleasure to listen to Wilson’s prologue, including the aesthetic slides!
It’s over (for now), but I’m grateful that Skillseed could carve out, amidst the grind of the everyday, a space of inspiration, where dreamers and doers alike can mingle – understanding that dreaming and doing are not at odds, but two steps of a single process that brings us all that much closer towards building a more sustainable future, together.
P.S - If you didn’t manage to attend our Assembly last year and would like to read about our event highlights, you can head over here!