People not problems

Asset-based enquiry tries to redress a balance between meeting needs or vulnerabilities, and nurturing strengths and resources in people and communities.

NPC’s recent State of the Sector research uncovered a growing interest from charities in models that concentrate on working with individual strengths and community networks to support communities to make change for themselves, rather than on directly fixing problems.

Taking an asset-based approach can encourage us to look beyond needs to see the whole person or community, and help them to uncover and build upon their strengths.

With charities increasingly interested in this area, we wanted to explore what an asset-based approach means for organisations, what it can offer the wider charity sector, and what the opportunities and pitfalls are. In December 2017, we convened a roundtable to explore the role of asset-based approaches in the charity sector. This short publication summarises insights from the participants.