Asset Building: Moving beyond micro-credit as a tool to combat poverty in Europe

1. Asset Building: Moving beyond micro-credit as a tool to combat poverty in Europe Brussels, December 6th, 2010

2. The International Association for Community Development (IACD) is an international membership organisation for those working in or supporting community development.

3. AN INTERNATIONAL AGENDA FOR CITIZEN ACTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

4. IACD is working with the Carnegie UK Trust and partners across the world to ensure that we can draw learning and inspiration from colleagues already working on asset based approaches to community development all over the world.

5. Assets • When we talk about assets in the context of anti-poverty or community development programs we may be alluding to the building of individual (through saving or loans) or community assets (land buildings, culture etc).

6. Assets • We may also be talking about the building of tangible or intangible assets. Welcome to our community! We are in the lowest quintile of educational achievement, have 19% unemployment, high crime rates, above average teenage pregnancies, one of the most deprived communities in the region. What will you see in our community?

7. People are at the heart • An assets approach sees people at the heart of communities – they are at the core of both the intangible and tangible assets of a community. • Buildings & Finances can be important if they are build on and from people, and in turn help to grow the power and resources of the communities in which they are built.

8. Asset Building • Asset Building is part of a wider shift in approach from deficit/needs based approaches towards the inclusion of asset based approaches.

9. Part of a global movement • Access to credit, including Microcredit, is part of a global movement towards Asset based approaches to community development.

10. Building on Strengths • Asset based approaches can build on existing good practice and are not a substitute for social entitlements • Action on assets building and asset based community development should be as well as (not instead of) recognising needs

11. IACD & Indigo • IACD facilitates the Indigo Network by providing support to help make the Indigo Network an active community of practice.  • This support includes disseminating and sharing practices, maintaining and updating the Indigo website and convening and coordinating meetings.

12. Established in 1952 • Mission: • To advance the human rights and wellbeing of underserved people where Levi Strauss & Co. has a business presence. • Focus Areas: • Preventing HIV / AIDS • Improving Workers’ Rights and Wellbeing • Building Assets

13. Asset Building definition Asset building is a strategy to increase opportunities for low-income people to accumulate and retain financial assets as a way out of poverty • Access to financial services and products • Savings and investment • Asset preservation • Financial education

14. The US experience started in 1997 • In 1997, LSF became the first corporate foundation to sponsor a groundbreaking pilot called the American Dream Demonstration – a collaboration between the Center for Enterprise Development (CFED) and the Center for Social Development. • It was the first large-scale test of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)—matched savings accounts for the working poor devoted to purchasing a home, paying for college or skills training, or starting a small business; • Today, across the globe, IDAs are growing in popularity as an asset building strategy.

15. The findings from the American Dream Demonstration showed: • Low-income working people, when given the right incentives and support, including financial education, can and do save for long-term goals. • Building assets has profound effects on individuals and families and their ability to break the poverty cycle. It enables them to plan for the future and avoid risky behavior, weather unexpected financial storms, lower their housing costs through ownership, and create their own job opportunities through entrepreneurship.

17. LSF • Between 2004 and 2008, LSF supported 25 organizations across Europe to introduce, test and promote asset building as a new development model. • This first phase of the development program was designed to plant the seeds for the field of asset building in Europe, primarily partnering with emerging microfinance and micro-enterprise organizations.

18. The US experience continues . . . • Supporting local programs that work and can be replicated • Piloting new ideas for model adoption • Funding tests of scale • Advancing the field through shared learning’s • Focusing on public policy at local, state and federal level

19. The European experience started in 2005 • In Europe, we are building the asset-building field focusing on model development, policy advocacy and direct services that enable low-income people to accumulate and protect assets. • Through our Indigo Asset Building Program, we have spent over $2.2 million on supporting asset building innovation in 9 countries of Europe since 2005. • We are the only corporate foundation with this Europe-wide asset building agenda.

20. Key European facilitating partners: New Economics Foundation and the European Microfinance Network. • Organizations funded in the UK: new economics foundation; London Rebuilding Society; Fair Finance; Quaker Social Action; Toynbee Hall; Transact. • Indigo acts as a laboratory of information exchange and learning, enables the use of innovative tools that support asset building, enables a consulting and advisory role for practitioners for each others’ project and acts as a resource centre.

21. Indigo Network • In 2005, the Levi Strauss Foundation responded to a need for exchange and knowledge sharing by establishing the Indigo Network. The purpose is to facilitate communication, build and strengthen relationships and stimulate the scaling of successful practices. • http://www.indigo-asset-building.eu/

24. New membersand work strands • The UK based, Runnymede Trust, is a new member of the Indigo network. They are developing a new European network on ethnicity, migration and asset building policies. This network will carry out research and hold national workshops in each of seven target countries – as well as connect with U.S.-based advocates addressing issues of racial wealth gaps.