Join Chris Chinnock for a two day exploration of the theory and practice of Asset Based Community Development.

Nurture Development are delighted to be working in partnership with Community First Oxford to offer this opportunity to local people, VCS organisations and Public Service professionals to explore how placing the emphasis on what is strong rather than what is wrong in neighbourhood life can open up opportunities to discover, connect and mobilise Citizen led change.

The two day workshop will provide a mixture of reflective practice, tools and techniques to take ABCD into action in a way that is respectful of the local context; and ultimately create safer, healthier, more economically and environmentally vibrant places to live. You will be able to use what’s strong in the neighbourhood where you live and/or work to deal with what’s wrong and make what’s strong even stronger.

This workshop will:

• Give you an understanding of the history of ABCD, relating it to your experience of community development.
• Explain the 5 guiding principles of ABCD in both theory and practice.
• Identify the 6 building blocks or assets of community building, exploring how these can be identified, connected and mobilised in the neighbourhood context.
• Share the 8 touch stones of community building, offering stories and examples of their application.
• Identify the ABCD Tools for Change: e.g. Learning Conversations & Asset Mapping.
• Involve you in activities and exercises that you can then use in practice where you live and/or work.
• Use stories and case studies of ABCD in action from our Learning Sites, in the UK and around the world, to highlight effective practice

We have intentionally organised the workshops to:

• Be the most affordable
• Most credible
• Most citizen and practitioners focused

Workshops on Asset-Based Community Development available anywhere in Europe. Our invitation to practitioners attending is to invite a resident you are working with, in a local neighbourhood, who you know to be passionate about community building and weaving their community together.

Lunch: Please bring your own packed lunch

Cost: £200 per practitioner – Ticket holders are entitled to invite one member of their local community to join them on the two days at no additional cost

Duration: 10.00 – 4.00pm

Ticket holders are entitled to invite one member of their local community to join them on the two days at no additional cost.

What is ABCD?

ABCD invites us to work beyond administrative boundaries and understand that people, their families and communities, have unique competencies that cannot be replaced by competent professional intervention. Since the only people who can build community are the people who live sleep and work there.

The starting point for communities, funders, commissioners, and practitioners isn’t necessarily a different one, instead of starting with a focus on what’s wrong, ABCD invites us to start with a focus on what’s strong so that we can use what’s strong to address what’s wrong and make what’s strong even stronger.

That means paying attention to assets that build community connection and power. However, these assets might not always be apparent, in fact, they are often invisible. This workshop will pay attention to the importance of making the invisible visible, offering both underpinning theory and examples of practice.

For more details on the workshop format and programme please contact [email protected] and to find out more about the ABCD approach itselfclick here