Asset-Based Community Development for All

How can ABCD be implemented across different fields to catalyse sustainable change and progress?

Thank you for joining us at Skillseed’s second iteration of the virtual ABCD Assembly and making the event a huge success! We’re honoured to have hosted a platform for current and aspiring practitioners to connect and learn more about Asset-based Community Development.  We hope you’ve had an enriching and enjoyable experience. We certainly had a blast, learning and sharing alongside our speakers and participants!

ABCD ASSEMBLY 2021 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

After kickstarting the event with a prologue, our panelists had an eye-opening discussion on leveraging assets in their respective fields. This was followed by a close-up session with the panelists who shared further background to their work, anecdotes of how they have leveraged assets and where they envision to further apply an asset-based approach in their field of work. The session included a Q&A segment where participants directed specific questions to the panelists in their human library session.

Read on for exciting event highlights and our speakers’ responses to some remaining questions posted!

ABCD PROLOGUE

PANEL DISCUSSION

The speakers shared some of the challenges they had faced in practising ABCD, and shared that it is important not to rush into scaling projects and initiatives, to be intentional about our timing and objectives, and to collaborate with others who have similar goals.

Speakers saw huge potential in the passions and curiosities of the youth. They shared that the youth can first be empowered to recognise their own assets and subsequently be tapped upon for the community, as long as they are given ample opportunities to build on their self-confidence and to gain ground experience.

HUMAN LIBRARY

GROUND UP INITIATIVES

JEAN LOO, Co-Founder & Director, Superhero Me

Jean practises social advocacy, creative arts and community mobilisation to assemble projects that push for progress on inclusive education, disability awareness and equality in early childhood. She started her journey as a photojournalist, community artist and co-founded SUPERHERO ME, an inclusive arts movement that focuses on fostering social interaction between children of different needs. Her responsibilities as lead producer include planning strategic public outreach events, managing partnerships with schools, government bodies and art institutions, and planning Superhero Me’s advocacy content creation. She mentors a network of creatives and a growing community of facilitators to confidently work with the special needs community and adopt an inclusive approach in their work. For her commitment to inclusion through the arts, Jean was conferred the Singapore Youth Award 2018.

In applying ABCD to her inclusion work with children, Jean emphasised the importance of looking at them as possibilities (rather than problems) in her Human Library segment. Beyond just trying to involve more people, we should also think about how to get them to feel involved, and thus empowered.

What are some arts interventions in the community setting that inspire you, Jean? (beyond Singapore, in our region and/or the world) - It will be extra helpful if they are related to mental health.

Hi there, I would like to share these 3 - 3 pumpkins, Both Sides Now, Alecia Neo's work.

ENVIRONMENT

MARCUS KOE, Founder, Habitat Collective

As an anthropology major at the pioneering batch of Yale-NUS, Marcus has always been interested in humanity, the environment, and the intersections between them. His journey as an urban farmer started back in 2017, and he has since passionately pursued expertise in designing ecological food gardens, small and human-scale systems, permaculture inspired regenerative solutions, and community supported agriculture.

Having spent time cutting his teeth in organic farms and eco-communes in Japan, the seeds of Habitat Collective were sowed. Fuelled by growing discontent with the state of agriculture and food systems both at home and globally, he fights for a dream of a more ecologically-attuned Singapore, believing that small-scale, self-sufficient, holistic communities are a pathway for better humanity.

In his Human Library segment, Marcus shared how the practice of Community-Supported Agriculture applies the framework of ABCD. By leveraging (bio)diversity, and building co-dependence and webs of relationships both within the community and with nature, communities can build up their resilience and sovereignty to become more self-reliant.

How feasible is it to engage and work with schools in Community Gardening, and if that's in your plan? 

I believe it is very feasible, and gardens are a great platform for learning and activity for students. It does require a "champion" for the cause within the school to be successful I think, maybe a teacher or even the principal. We have reached out to schools before, but unfortunately the COVID situation made it a little difficult to do anything meaningful (hard for external people to go in). We'll definitely want to revisit the idea. Do reach out if you know any schools keen to do something. 

It is important for the stakeholders to have and agree on common goals. From there, they may be involved differently and play different roles. How do we still bring them together to work towards the same purpose?

Hmm, this is a very broad question. I definitely agree with the premise, and have found it difficult to work with some stakeholders in my experience as well. Perhaps one important point is for everybody involved to be open-minded and flexible, while also being conscious about others' concerns and goals. A good way to achieve that is to initiate open conversation with one another and see how, even with differences, win-win situations and partnerships can happen. 

MENTAL HEALTH

PRIYAHNISHA, Director, Reset Right, Director & Co-Founder, Mental ACT

Nisha is a passionate and person-centred Indian psychotherapist, counsellor, trainer and speaker with more than 5 years of clinical experience in Singapore. As an individual with lived experience of mental illness and a long-term caregiver, Nisha draws on personal experiences to empathise and engage with her clients. She believes that mental health is the most key aspect of human living and psychotherapy is a very useful tool to develop personal strengths, improve communication, deepen self-awareness and maintain mental wellness, throughout one’s life.

Apart from her professional work as a private psychotherapist, Nisha is also the co-founder and director of Mental ACT, a non-profit organisation that focuses on advocating, training and providing support to the local Indian community for its Mental Health needs. She leads a team of over 50 volunteers who cohesively work on creating programs, campaigns, initiatives and research, to reduce the stigma surrounding Mental Health and making it accessible for the community.

In her Human Library segment, Nisha shared how the idea of “mental health” is often stigmatised as many interpret mental illness as a problem. However, adopting an asset-based lens will allow us to shift the focus away from the struggling stages of mental health, which can be demoralising, to look, instead, at what is working well and what can the community pull together to make this a more positive journey - which can be more empowering.

How do you assist/help your volunteers to support themselves (e.g. mindfulness, mental-wellness)? I'm sure they also take in a few punches themselves.

At Mental ACT we have implemented a few processes to ensure the mental well being of our volunteers: 

• All volunteers are encouraged to share any specific mental health conditions or triggers that they might have (e.g not comfortable working on family violence issues) so that we can delegate projects mindfully

• As a common practice, we have safety officers available at all events. And these safety officers are also at the disposal of our volunteers. Should they feel triggered or uncomfortable hosting or facilitating an event, they can always tap out and seek the support of the safety officers, at any point.

• As directors, myself and my partner are available 24/7 for any volunteer who needs emotional and mental support while working on mental act's projects or with their own personal lives

• We conduct regular check-ins with our volunteers to ensure that they are coping well and are not burnt out with the workload

• We encourage volunteers to actively participate in self-care activities rolled out by other team members

• We organising mindfulness workshops/activities as frequently as possible to help with supporting their mental wellness

• Volunteers are encouraged to take a Leave of Absence whenever they feel drained, exhausted, burnt out or have too much on their plate to deal with.

As an individual leading community-centred initiatives, what personal strengths have you found most useful to be a good leader and what were you surprised by?

For the most part, I have always struggled with exhibiting leadership qualities because I'm a highly introverted person with severe social anxiety. However, I was surprised to note that my sensitivity and mindfulness about mental health in general has made me a very supportive, endearing and approachable leader over time. My time has highly commended my ability to remain empathetic, patient and non-judgemental. This has allowed me to build stronger professional and personal relationships with my team that have surely strengthened and improved our working relationships.

How do we see ABCD working alongside regular casework? 

ABCD is a flexible and holistic framework that surely helps in most therapeutic relationships. Exploring strengths and assets helps to empower clients as compared to only focusing on problem-solving or troubleshooting. Using the ABCD framework provides a more empathetic and supportive lens to casework which can be appreciated by a vast majority of the clientele.

EDUCATION

WAI PHYO AUNG, Deputy Director, BEAM Education Foundation

Wai Phyo Aung has been working for BEAM Education Foundation since the beginning when BEAM was founded in 2010. He joined BEAM as a subject teacher in the higher education program and was later promoted as the Admin & Finance Coordinator in 2014 and then as the Higher Education Program Coordinator in 2015. Since July 2019, he has been overseeing the Higher Education Program as Deputy Director of BEAM.

BEAM’s target population for development include Disadvantaged and Marginalized people in Thailand and Myanmar. 

Along with BEAM, he is committed to addressing the diverse needs of the marginalized people as well as empowering them to be changemakers for their communities.

In his sharing, Ko Phyo emphasised the power of the collective to make a difference. By working together with other organisations and stakeholders towards a macro goal, the ability to negotiate change can be enhanced through the collective voice and the conglomeration of diverse backgrounds, experiences and identities.

How can we overcome language / cultural differences in community building / communication, especially when community members may be monolingual in different languages?

Asset-based approach can really support us to view diversity in identity, differences in language and culture, and prior experiences as positive assets. Thus, Educators, Teachers and Learners are valued for what they bring to the education. As a member of the migrant community in the border area, we are trying to work towards curriculum integration. As migrants and refugees in Thailand, they must be learning their language and culture in order to build trust, harmony so that it can lead to a peaceful society. Based on the agreement with local Thai communities, we can work together to develop curricula, media, and innovative learning processes including Non-Formal and Informal curriculum amendment based on the needs, and providing language classes to further development and cultural exchange. Thai schools in border communities can also work with migrant communities to promote different language, context and culture.

MODERATOR

WILSON CHAN, Director, Skillseed

Wilson is a maker and environmentalist. He graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a First Class Honours degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology and was awarded the G.E Fogg Prize 2005 for outstanding performance. He also holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University, during which he co-founded a social enterprise, providing a free peer community to international students applying to universities in the US. In his stint in the National Parks Board, Wilson played a pivotal role in developing Singapore's Integrated Coastal Management programme and led the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology (CUGE). Wilson has been blessed with scholarships from Fulbright and the Yale School of the Environment. He has been shaped by the humbling and enriching experience of mentoring young students, as well as befriending and caring for vulnerable elderly.

How can we make ABCD understandable to the layman?

First, thank you participants for asking these fundamental yet important questions. I apologize in advance that my response  will be somewhat straightforward and simple, but not simplistic, I hope. 

I believe that practical application to immediate initiatives helps make ABCD understood, contextualised and perhaps even culturalised. In parallel, it would be instructive to draw lessons from what works and what warps, as we implement and experiment.