Asset-Based Development: Success Stories from Egyptian Communities A Manual for Practitioners English translation of original document, published in Arabic by the Center for Development Services in Cairo, Egypt 2005 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 3 Introduction 5 Case Studies 7 Success Breeds Success 8 A Creative Community Based Composting Initiative 13 Moving Beyond Conventional Charity Work 18 Building Community Capacity 23 The Transformative Power of Art 29 Fan Sina 34 Linking Community and Government for Development 39 Peer-to-Peer Learning through the Living University 45 Bridging Gaps between Communities and Institutions 50 Rising from Modest Roots through Partnership 56 Mobilizing, Renewing and Building Assets: Methods, Tools, and Strategies 61 Identifying and Mobilizing Assets 63 Appreciative Interviewing and Analyzing Community Success 63 Mapping and Organizing 64 · Appreciative Interviewing 65 · Community Analysis of Success 67 · Positive Deviance 69 · Identifying Individual Skills: Hand, Heart, Head 71 · Mapping Community Groups or Associations 74 · Capacity Inventories 76 Linking Assets to Opportunities 78 Institutional Mapping and the Leaky Bucket 78 · Linking, Mobilizing & Organizing 79 · Mapping Institutions 81 · Leaky Bucket 84 The Role of the Intermediary 88 Fostering Broad-Based Leadership 89 Identifying “Gappers” 90 Helping Communities to Build Assets 91 Helping Communities to Link Assets to External Opportunities 92 Leading by Stepping Back 93 Tracking the Process as it Unfolds 93 Extended Case Studies 94 Success Breeds Success 95 A Creative Community Based Composting Initiative 103 Moving Beyond Conventional Charity Work 109 Building Community Capacity 117 The Transformative Power of Art 126 Fan Sina 133 Linking Community and Government for Development 140 Peer-to-Peer Learning through the Living University 147 Bridging Gaps between Communities and Institutions 156 Rising from Modest Roots through Partnership 165 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Through the generous support of the Ford Foundation, the Center for Development Services entered into a collaborative partnership with the Coady International Institute for the production of this manual. The manual was prepared by Waad El Hadidy (lead on fieldwork and case study production) and Alison Mathie (lead on study design and manual production) with contributions from Gord Cunningham (study design and fieldwork), Laila Said (fieldwork and case study production) and Megan Foster (manual production). We are grateful for the consultation and advice from CDS staff members: Marlene Kanawati; Alaa Saber; Hassan Hussein; Ahmed Farouk; Tandiar Samir; Ali Mokhtar; Hisham El Roubi; Mohamed Abdel Hafiz; Hamed Mohamed. We would also like to thank Milad Mowad (Arabic artistic design) and Passinte Isaak (Arabic manual production). We are grateful to the following people for their consultation in the selection of case studies: Sharry Lapp, Ford Foundation; Robert Latowsky, NGO Service Center; Hans Rolloos, European Union Programme Coordination Unit; Nehal Kousny, World Bank; Dina El Naggar, World Bank; Rasha Omar, International Fund for Agricultural Development; Hisham Khalil, University of Hull; Ibrahim Abou Elaish, Sekem; Mahmoud El Sherif, Federation of NGOs; Roger Hardister, Near East Foundation. We are also grateful to the following NGOs and individuals who were interviewed for each of the case studies: Baharia Primary Healthcare Project: Magda El Sherbini; Mohamed Sherif Saleh; Roshdy Soultan; Ahmad Abd Elwanis; Medhat Massoud; Ahmed Ashry; Mohamed Mebed, Zakareya Fouad, Helal Abed, and Abdala Ahmed; the health educators, and the community members of the various districts of Baharia Bani Ghani Betterment Organization: Samir Lotfi; Amgad Anton; Marsa Soliman; the community members of Bani Ghani Beni Soliman Community Development Association: Mohamed Yassin; Badr Abdel Hamid; and the staff of Institute of Cultural Affairs in Minia and Cairo, the community members of Bani Soliman, and the members of the Association Boghada Youth Center: Saad Boghdady; Mohsen Boghdady; Hamdy Abd Raboh; Alaa El Zanaty; Farag Hassan Mona Khalil; Mahmoud Khalil; Hussein Selim; Hassan Khalil; El Sayed Bakr Ali; Mohamed Abou Zeid Collaborative Community Action Initiative: Mostafa Noufal; Hoda Hafez; Abd el Aal Ahmed Shehata; Mohamed Saeed Omar; Adel el Duwayati; Mohamed Nash'at Tomoum; 3 Saad Ahmed Saad; Camilia Hegazy; Salama Abdelmoneim; Heba Ali Hassan; Naglaa Abdelmoneim Hassan; Hala Mahmoud Mohamed; Amira Salama; and the community members of Al Montazah Fan Sina: Seleima Gabali Awad; Mohamed Amin; Khaled Fathy; Mona Gabaly; Om Youssef; Suleiman Eid; Sayeda Ayad Fat·het Kheir: Nora Younis; Marwa Sharaf El Din; Salma El Beblawi; Ayman Shehata; Om Mahmoud; Mrs. Karima; Gihan Ahmed; the volunteers and community members of Fat’het Kheir Gudran: Sameh El Halawany; Aliaa El Gereidy; Ramy Fawzy; Ahmed Mansour; Eman Mabrouk; and the community members of El Max fishing village Living University: Mohamed Seif; Mohamed Abdalla; Ahmed Fahmi; Amal Farahat Iman Ali; Khalaf Khalaf; Tarek Mokhtar; Hassan Salah El Din; Ali Rabie Ali; Ali Abdelhamid Khalifa; Mohamed Haddad; Kotb Ragab Mahmoud; Ahmed Anwar Kasim; Samah Said; Montasser Mohamed; Mohamed Seif; Ahmed Abdel Hamid; Ahmed Nour Finally, we would like to thank Jim Delaney of the Coady Institute and Brenda Riley of St. Francis Xavier University for their help in final technical editing. 4 INTRODUCTION Among the ways people identify with a community is through the history they share with others of coping with change and responding to opportunity. Tension and struggle are part of this process of change, but those communities that have been able move forward tend to be those that define themselves by their assets and capacities, rather than by their problems. The purpose of this manual is to shine the light on these communities, and draw out lessons for development practitioners. These development practitioners may be working with non- governmental organizations (NGOs), ranging from community development associations (CDAs) at the community level through to international NGOs operating in Egypt. They may be working with government agencies, in the private sector, or as private individuals. Methods for conducting and analyzing the case studies To select these cases, individuals experienced in Egyptian community development through their work with donor and practitioner agencies were consulted. From 53 suggestions, 10 cases were chosen for closer study. They were chosen because they have succeeded in setting sustained community-driven development in motion. They were also selected to present diverse examples of types of community development work in a variety of contexts. The cases are therefore drawn from contexts as varied as Bedouin nomadic groups to urban neighborhoods in Cairo, including everything from a composting initiative to an ambitious multi-faceted urban renovation project. The development agencies represented ranged from large scale international and Egyptian NGOs, to private individuals providing professional services. After conducting fieldwork in these communities and interviewing those people who played an active role, the cases were discussed and reviewed through an “an asset-based” lens. The following question was asked: Can success be traced to the capacity of communities to recognize and mobilize their own assets, and to use these to access opportunities? In these cases, are development practitioners viewing the community as “half full” rather than “half empty”? And are communities consciously building, as well as mobilizing, the asset base? The cases were then reviewed to see if these community stories supported the following assumptions: · that the capacity for sustained community development, driven by communities themselves, depends on confidence in existing capacities, particularly the capacity to mobilize and organize; · and that effective relationships with public and private sector institutions are the means to strengthening and expanding this asset base. Because donor and practitioner agencies provided the suggestions for the case studies, the final selection is biased in favour of community development examples in which an NGO or other outside agency had a significant role. For this reason, the only case that can be described as truly asset-based is the Boghada case. Here the community mobilized their own resources first and were then able to drive their own development forward on their own terms, in collaboration with other agencies. 5 While the other cases described were typically more NGO-driven, they nevertheless illustrate ways in which development practitioners can help communities to build and sustain assets so that they can continue to move forward on their own. What is community? The term “community” can mean different things here. Sometimes it is used to refer to a geographical community. Sometimes it refers to a “community of interest” which could be a sub-group within a geographical community or people with a common interest that cuts across geographical boundaries. The lessons drawn from these cases can be applied to “community” in all its diverse forms. Policy context in which communities are trying to build their livelihood The Egyptian context presents unique challenges to, and opportunities for, community development. Bureaucracy has often slowed the pace of local initiative, whether it is the lengthy time taken to get a title deed for land, to formally register a business or an NGO, or the scrutiny of government over