From clients to citizens : Deepening the practice of asset-based and citizen-led development

What happens to the field of community development when its practitioners - community members, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), governments - start with the assumption that communities have strengths rather than deficiencies, assets rather than needs, possibilities rather than problems? This forum, From Clients to Citizens: Deepening the Practice of Asset-Based and Citizen-Led Development, brought together people who are attempting to work with communities on that basis. It gave them the opportunity to share experiences, challenge each other, express doubt, unpack words that have been burdened with over use, think through the implications of working differently, and renew their commitment to social change through local community action and broadbased structural and institutional reform. As such, conversation shifted from the particulars of local leadership and community organizing to fundamental questions of rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The conversation sometimes touched on values instilled through different cultures that inspire mutual self help, and sometimes touched on structural changes needed in our institutions to make such mutual self help operate on local, national and international levels. It sometimes looked at how people in communities could participate in the global economy more on their own terms, and sometimes touched on ways that communities could make themselves less vulnerable to market failure and strengthen alternative means of livelihood in the local economy. In short, as well as celebrating success and possibility, forum participants explored the thorny issues emerging with the growing interest in asset-based and citizen-led development around the world.