“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” Mark 6:38
“Needs-based development focuses on what is lacking in the life of a community or a person. The assumption in this approach is that the solutions to poverty are dependent upon outside human and financial resources…When the church or ministry stops the flow of resources, it can leave behind individuals and communities that are more disempowered than ever before.
Asset-based approach to poverty alleviation should not be seen as denying the fact that low-income people — like all of us — have glaring needs…What’s wrong will come out soon enough; but by starting with what’s right, we can change the dynamics that have marred the self-image of the low-income people and that have created a sense of superiority in ourselves.
Once the assets have been identified, it is appropriate to then ask the poor individual or community the questions: “What needs can you identify that must be addressed? What problems do you see that must be solved? How can you use your assets to address those needs and to solve those problems?”
Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert in When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself (Chicago: Moody 2014) 120-121.
It’s important to avoid giving a handout that creates dependency, but rather to give a hand up that builds disciples. We do this by avoiding a needs-based approach which relies on outside resources.
In the face of real need (the feeding of the five thousand), notice in today’s Scripture that Jesus urged the disciples not to assess the need but to see what they had. When they did this, their situation changed.
When we take an asset-based approach, which is using what we have, we encourage people to use what they have faithfully as well. In so doing, over time, we see people in a setting empowered to bring about real change.
Want to learn more about this important topic related to generosity, read my CLA blog that released yesterday: Turn Dependency into Discipleship.