A Working Guide to the Asset Based Community Development Approach in Egypt

Many communities in Egypt, specifically in the rural areas, are unquestionably distressed due to the major economic and political shifts that have occurred over the past few years. Strategies of community development are currently viewed as radical remedies for poverty-related problems. In Egypt, community development strategies are usually driven by traditional approaches, including charity-, needs- and rights-based approaches which focus on basic human needs such as shelter and food. These approaches have major limitations as they ignore the structural causes of poverty and address symptoms only. Therefore, an alternative capacity-focused practice becomes an urgent need. This study argues that Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) could offer a coherent strategy of sustainable development for rural and poor communities in Egypt. The research presents a detailed and practical stepwise model for the implementation of the ABCD approach in rural areas, derived from both the Egyptian experience and international guidelines. The results make a substantial contribution to the understanding of the reasons for success, and challenges, of the ABCD approach. Thus, a possible way could be paved to generalize this bottom-up development strategy for rural communities. The findings of the study are most relevant to developing countries, and to those emerging from state capitalism and centrally planned economies.