Asset-Based Community Development in Diverse Cultural Contexts: Learning from Mindanao, the Philippines

This chapter is about asset-based community development (ABCD) in Mindanao. Specifically, it is about a locally adapted ABCD approach that has emerged from development practitioners adapting and translating ABCD concepts and methods to make them more culturally relevant. The chapter examines how the use of language and communication tools, in conjunction with an emphasis on local empowerment, contribute to enabling a more culturally relevant form of ABCD. The chapter opens up a space of conversation between linguists, development scholars, ABCD practitioners, and a larger research community. It invites wider application of learnings from Mindanao, and furthers thinking on the application of linguistics in development theory and practice.