Towards Asset-Based Community Development : Insight from Community Asset Mapping in Karkasara Community, Tarauni Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria

The needs-based traditional community development model tends to emphasize deficiency, the inability of communities to be self-reliant and dependence on external support. Contrary to this, the asset-based community development (ABCD) approach focuses on community's capacities, resources and assets. Central to the effective implementation of the ABCD approach-also called the capacity model-is an understanding of the concept and mechanism of community asset mapping (CAM). This paper presents a report of the mapping of community assets in Karkasara community in Tarauni Local Government Area, Kano State. Within the framework of an exploratory method, the study employed a Focused Group Discussion (FGD) for data collection through group interviews to identify and document assets in the Karkasara community. As an initial study, the findings recorded twenty four items as community assets. The study concludes that the FGD participants' desire to see that some the community's social problems are addressed through the assets identified points to the untapped potential of using local resources and capacities to drive community development