Summary of Sustainable community development: from what's wrong to what's strong | Cormac Russell | TEDxExeter

Summary of "Sustainable community development: from what's wrong to what's strong" by Cormac Russell

Cormac Russell’s TEDx talk challenges traditional approaches to helping individuals and communities, advocating instead for a strengths-based, asset-focused methodology that empowers people from within rather than imposing external solutions.

Main Ideas and Concepts

• The Problem with Traditional Helping
  • Helping often focuses on what is wrong, broken, or deficient in people and communities.
  • This deficit-based approach can cause harm by:
    1. Defining people by their problems rather than their capacities and gifts.
    2. Diverting funds away from those in need toward service providers.
    3. Undermining grassroots active citizenship in favor of technocracy and expertise.
    4. Causing communities to internalize negative labels and depend on outside “rescue.”
• A New Paradigm: Starting with What’s Strong
  • Inspired by Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s idea that change done to people feels like violence, but change done by people themselves feels like liberation.
  • John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann’s research across 300 North American neighborhoods identified six key building blocks (assets) that enable sustainable community change from the inside out.
  • This Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach has been validated globally, including indigenous communities, and focuses on identifying, connecting, and mobilizing existing strengths.
• Practical Examples
  • Leeds, UK:
    • Community builders focus on connecting older people with the heart of community life to combat loneliness, not just isolating them in programs.
    • Example: Robin, a widower passionate about making walking sticks, became a community leader, engaging people of all ages and contributing to the community’s wellbeing.
  • Wirral, UK:
    • Frank, a community artist, mobilized local people to transform New Brighton beach by building the “Black Pearl” pirate ship, turning a litter problem into a community pride project and tourist attraction.
  • Gasabo district, Kigali, Rwanda:
    • Community builders worked with uncredentialed local people and parents to address local issues like street children and teacher morale.
    • They created a school that doubles as an economic hub, teaching practical skills and supporting teachers through a local supermarket.
• Core Lessons and Philosophy
  • True change comes from grassroots action, with community builders facilitating the discovery and amplification of local assets.
  • There is no “them and us” in community development—everyone’s liberation is interconnected.
  • The best solutions arise when those labeled as problems gain the power to redefine those problems and lead change.
  • The approach fosters dignity, pride, and inclusion, replacing dependency with empowerment.
• Call to Action
  • Shift from a deficit-based model of helping to an asset-based model.
  • Recognize and invest in the gifts and capacities of individuals and communities.
  • Support community builders who nurture local leadership and connections.
  • Embrace the idea that “we are the people we’ve been waiting for” and that sustainable change starts from within communities.

Methodology / Instructions for Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)

1. Identify Strengths and Assets
   • Look for gifts, passions, skills, and capacities within individuals and communities rather than focusing on deficits.
2. Connect People and Resources
   • Build relationships and networks among community members to strengthen social ties.
3. Mobilize Assets for Change
   • Encourage communities to use their existing resources to address challenges and create solutions.
4. Support Grassroots Leadership
   • Facilitate rather than dictate; community builders act as connectors and enablers, not controllers.
5. Redefine Problems Together
   • Empower those affected to define their issues and lead the response.
6. Create Inclusive and Sustainable Solutions
   • Solutions should build on existing strengths, be community-owned, and foster dignity and belonging.

Speakers / Sources Featured

• Cormac Russell – Main speaker and community development practitioner.
• Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Harvard academic quoted on change and liberation.
• John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann – Professors at Northwestern University, pioneers of Asset-Based Community Development.
• Lilla Watson – Aboriginal elder and activist, quoted on mutual liberation.
• Monica Ronchi – Translator of the subtitles.
• Saskia Clauss – Reviewer of the subtitles.

This talk advocates a transformative shift in community development: from a top-down, problem-focused model to a grassroots, strengths-based approach that respects and builds on the inherent capacities of people and their communities to create lasting, inclusive change.

Category

Educational

Video