Introduction to Asset Based Community Development with the Jeder Institute

Youth Action is excited to be partnering with the Jeder Institute for an Introduction to Asset Based Community Development workshop. This workshop will be focusing on how to utilise ABCD skills while working with young people. 

This training is suitable if you work in most youth work settings. Some examples of practice are: 

• a youth-led group (e.g. a Youth Advisory Council, leadership group, youth advocates)
• a drop-in space 
• creating programs to support youth-led community initiatives  
• individual one on one support to connect young people to community settings 

This training is interactive and participatory, where you get to use the tools and resources which you are learning about. These tools and resources can be used directly with the communities who you work with. 

Connecting young people to community and seeing them as a part of a community is vital for young people to have a voice and to create a sense of belonging. ABCD is a powerful approach to community engagement and development that focuses on abilities and potential, rather than problems and deficits by discovering the resources that are already present in a community.

By building relationships and creating the space for opportunities to emerge, community members become powerful and are more in control of their own decision making. The key principles will demonstrate how ABCD ensures an inclusive community process and participants will leave the workshop with practical tools to assist communities to help themselves and others discover and mobilise community strengths.

Drawing on the experience of both the participants and the facilitator, participants will leave our workshops with practical tools, skills and ideas on how to:

• Focus on assets rather than deficiencies
• Identify and mobilise community assets
• Identify natural leaders
• Discover skills of individuals
• Build and maintain effective partnerships
• Facilitate group processes

Upon completion, participants will receive:

• Membership to Jeder's online Participatory Community Building Learning Space
• Certificate of Participation.
• This training is endorsed by ABCD Asia Pacific

This training will be held online. 

Your facilitators: 

The Jeder Institute operates across Australia and throughout the world to create positive change for individuals and communities. They bring people together to realise their full potential, increase collective knowledge, explore insights and engage community members in conversations that matter to empower individual’s choice and control. 

Michelle Dunscombe 

Michelle lives on Taungurung Country in regional Victoria. She is an enthusiastic community development practitioner, facilitator and trainer who loves working with emergence. She is skilled and passionate about strengthening regional, rural and remote communities, developing community leadership capacity, building community resilience and supporting community members to take action. Michelle is the Vice Chair of ABCD Asia Pacific and a faculty member of the ABCD Institute. 

Dee Brooks

Dee is an Intentional Nomad who has travelled and worked in over 20 countries. Based on two decades of grassroots work, Dee’s background is in youth work, community-based research and community-university outreach. She is a firm believer in the power of tapping into the collective wisdom of a community to strengthen and build on what’s already there. Dee is also the Chair of ABCD Asia Pacific and a faculty member of the ABCD Institute.