ABCD

Assets based community development. What is right with you? What gifts has God given to you that you can use to improve your life and that of your neighbour? How can the individuals and organisation in your community work together to improve your community? Once the assets have been identified the next question is about needs. How can you use your assets to address those needs and to solve those problems.

Relief, rehabilitation and development

Ensure participation of the affected population in the assessment, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the assistance programme. Conduct an initial assessment to provide an understanding of the disaster situation and to determine the nature of the response. Respond when needs of an affected population are unmet by local people or organisation due to their inability or unwillingness to help. Target assistance based on vulnerability and need and provide it equitably and impartially. Aid workers must possess appropriate qualification, attitudes, and experience to plan and effectively implement appropriate assistance programmes.

Response to poverty.

A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation or development. Relief can be defined as the urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering from natural our man made crisis. Rehabilitation seeks to restore people and communities to the positive elements of their precrisis condition. Development is the process on ongoing change that moves all the people close to being right relationship with God, self, others and the rest of creation.