Community leadership: A comparison between asset-based community-led development (ABCD) and the traditional needs-based approach

ABSTRACT

A comparison study was undertaken between the asset-based community-led development (ABCD) approaches versus the traditional needs-based approach to community development relating to community leadership. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 24 community projects in South Africa for the study, of which 14 were sensitised to ABCD and 10 were not. The kind of community leadership developed in ABCD communities enabled communities to lead their own development by co-investing their own assets, and leveraging their assets with resources from external agencies. In comparison, although development took place, the leadership that emerged in the needs-oriented projects was more authoritarian in nature, and in some instances, seemed to establish a dependency on external agencies. Community leadership that contributes to projects that were more driven by community members complements the principles of appreciative leadership, which were more evident in ABCD-sensitised communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Community leadership
• asset-based community-led development (ABCD)
• traditional needs-based community development approach
• appreciative leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.