Abstract:
The Rough Guide to Community Asset Management is intended for
• All stakeholders, whether as providers or users, of community assets.
• Use throughout the life of a community asset. From starting it (initiation), to
putting it in place (implementation) and in running it (operation).
• Application in any context, but particularly in the context of poor
communities in developing countries.
What is Community Asset Management (or CAM)?
CAM is an approach to the initiation, implementation and operation of
community assets by the community, in partnership with other stakeholders, so
that they will be appropriate to local conditions and last, and in the process
contribute to the cultural, economic, psychological, social and spiritual well-being
of the community and the sustain-ability of the environment. In contexts where
people are poor, the immediate interest is in livelihood assets, those that ensure
that basic needs can be met.
The key is a focus on an asset’s entire life cycle
In many ways CAM is not new, but reflects and builds upon various practices,
notably those based on community participation, sustainability and cost-effective
construction technology. What distinguishes CAM is that it considers not only
the planning and implementation of community assets, which has been the focus
of much previous pro-poor development, but also, and more importantly, that its
principles are based on consideration of the entire life cycle of an asset, and the
relationship between the community and the asset over the whole of their
respective lives.
CAM has been proven to work
An approach based on its principles and processes has brought about marked
benefits to the community, while helping to improve the quality of public assets