ABCD Identify Assets tool

Human Assets Inventory – a ABCD exercise LRM Training – July-October 2020.

Attila Daray – Dorcas Aid Romania

Identifying Human Assets in the ABCD process is vital and key. It does not only give you a good starting point regarding the assets that can be utilized during the development process, but is also motivating and encouraging for people to see all the assets available plus it motivates them to contribute to the list with assets of their own.

A simple exercise is what is called the ‘We Can Game’. It implies however that there is a certain level of trust and sense of security in the group, members know each other to a certain extent.

Explanation to the group that we will focus on Human assets based on the picture below. In the ABCD approach we have to start by looking at the different Assets that we have as a community (or a group of people).

Skills of the 3 Hs: of the heart, of the head and of the hands. Explain that these skills and capacities can fall into different categories, including intellectual (head), physical (hand), and emotional (heart) and give examples of each type: · Head: analysis, organization, writing · Hand: cooking, farming, dancing · Heart: compassion, humor, teamwork  The 3 Hs:

The ‘We Can’ game Look at the list above with the examples of the 3H assets!

Please come up with additional examples, we will write them down: HEAD: mobilizing people,

HAND:

HEART:

When the list is complete (should be at least 50 total), please, thinking of the group write in a table the skills following the instructions: Column 1: write all the capacities/skills/assets you CAN do: I CAN. Column 2: write all the capacities/skills/assets that you are sure, you know that somebody else from the group can do: WE CAN. Column 3: write all the capacities/skills/assets that you know that somebody else outside of the group in your work context can do: Somebody Else CAN. Column 4: write all the capacities/skills/assets that you think you, this group can’t do and you do not know anybody else who could do.

1: I CAN (so we can...)

2: WE CAN (Somebody else from the group)

3: Somebody Else CAN

4: WE CAN’T & DON’T KNOW WHO CAN

Using a log sheet ask each person in the group to guess how many of the 100 Capacity Cards will go in the We Can (column 1 + column 2 from above) pile?

 For all the skills/capacities/assets NOT in column 1 read out the skills, and as each skill is read the facilitator will ask ‘can anyone in our group do this?’ (if yes -> WE CAN)  If after offering this reassurance, still nobody in the group responds with ‘I can’, then go on to ask, ‘Do we know anyone ‘locally’, who can, and would do it if we asked them?’(if yes, write name on card and put in the WE KNOW WHO CAN)  If no, place in the fourth category WE CAN’T AND WE DON’T KNOW WHO CAN.  Count the capacity cards around each of the sorting cards. If done in a group setting this will be done by volunteers: one volunteer per category card.  Compare the number cards in the We Can category to the guesses recorded on the log. Facilitate a discussion around the differences....typically there will be a pretty big difference.