How Can the Capabilities Approach Help to Reframe Asset Based Community Development from a Social Justice Perspective?

Ward, S. (2017) How Can the Capabilities Approach Help to Reframe Asset Based Community Development from a Social Justice Perspective? Human Development and Capabilities Association Conference 2017, Cape Town, South Africa, 6-8 Sept 2017.

Abstract

In this paper, I will explore the use of the Capabilities Approach as a means of critiquing and re-framing a popular policy intervention in Scotland called Asset Based Community Development, with the aim of extending its social justice potential. Drawing on research conducted for my PhD with a project piloting an Asset Based Community Development – or ABCD - approach to improving community wellbeing, I aim to show how a normative Capabilities framework can legitimise conversations about social justice with local residents and staff, side-stepping well-rehearsed project justifications and seeking out opportunities for genuine social change. In order to explore the potential for a Capabilities Approach, I will briefly introduce the issue of health inequalities in Scotland and the failure of policy interventions to date. I will go on to discuss Asset Based Community Development and outline the hypothesised theory of change derived from the literature. Finally, I will consider the use of a Capabilities framework in generating dialogue with health policy practitioners and local residents around social justice issues, and what the Capabilities data revealed about ABCD as a policy intervention.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Keywords: Social justice, asset-based community development, capabilities approach.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ward, Dr Sarah
• Authors: Ward, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher