The Rough Guide to Community Asset Management

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