The Power of Communities

Here are the foundations of an approach that promotes community development. It applies to any destination that wants to develop tourism in a thoughtful and coherent way. At Touriscope, we integrate it into our methodologies and as the saying goes, “to test it is to adhere to it! ”.

A new approach to community development

After years of involvement and observation around community development initiatives, practitioners and scientists have come to the same conclusion: there must be a better way of doing things! Thirty years ago, two professors at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, changed the approach by asking themselves what the result would be if instead of focusing on needs and shortcomings, thinking was based on the assets of communities. The ABCD approach (for asset-based community development) Was born.

Recently, the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism adapted the approach specifically to the tourism ecosystem by creating the program Activate. Touriscope was trained to implement the tools of this program and we are recognized by theAPECA As the only French-speaking tourism firm in Atlantic Canada that can apply this approach to community consultation and engagement.

The basis: the ABCD approach

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is an approach to sustainable community development based on their strengths and potentials. It involves:

• Assessing the resources, skills, and experience available in a community.
• The organization of the community around situations that push its members to act.
• The identification and implementation of appropriate measures.

The community is thus invited to identify its Assets, which takes various forms:

• Success stories
• Identity and geographical particularities
• Knowledge, experiences, innovations, talents and skills of individuals
• Associations
• Social networks
• Natural and material resources
• Financial resources
• Cultural and spiritual assets
• Rights, claims and acquired rights
• Institutions

“How do we know what we need if we don't know what we have? ” John McKnight

Key differences between approaches

The adapted approach in tourism: the Activate program

The Activate (Activating Community Tourism) program was developed by the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism (GMIST), based in Newfoundland, and the Coady Institute at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. It is based on the idea that “a good place to live is a place that is good to visit.” This program is based on the use of specific tools that I had the chance to experience during a training course in spring 2024.

Like the ABCD approach, the Activate Program encourages participants to look at the community holistically and place it at the center of the development process.

A method based on consultations

This approach has multiple tools to use at each stage. However, one of the major changes made, unlike a more traditional approach, is during the consultation stages. It is no longer just a question of meeting the tourism ecosystem, but a plurality of local actors (residents, influential people, entrepreneurs, schools, hospitals, religious institutions, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, cultural groups, media, etc.). They are not only asked about tourism topics, but about a range of social issues.

How do you discover the advantages of the community?

At the diagnosis stage, several sessions of consultations are planned in order to reveal the assets of the community. To formulate the questions addressed during these workshops, Touriscope compiled the themes covered by the Activate program, as well as those from various sources, including Destination Canada's regenerative approach to tourism or Design Thinking methods. Here are several sample questions:

• Share a story about a time when your community came up with the idea of making a positive change and achieved it without outside education or resources.
• What do you like about your community?
• When You Are Elsewhere, What Do You Miss?
• When You Receive Visitors, Where Do You Take Them?
• What do you want to share with outsiders? What Don't You Want to Share with Outsiders?
• What is the main emotion when you think of people from outside the community who come to visit you?
• What is unique to your community? What is unique that cannot be found elsewhere?
• What animal could best represent your community and why?
• What are the stories that represent what this place is for you and for your community?

‍How to transform assets into development levers?

‍After identifying the assets specific to the destination, the pierced bucket exercise helps to understand how tourism can increase a community's autonomous revenues and limit leaks. The relationships built within the community will ensure the development of a healthy and, as much as possible, circular internal economy.

Finally, an action plan is designed collectively to guide partners in identifying priorities, planning key steps, distributing responsibilities, and mobilizing stakeholders. Therefore, priority is given to the first steps to be taken to be taken to be taken to be taken to nourish the common vision, with the plan being adapted and improved iteratively, year after year.

The tools of the ABCD method help destination development actors to see communities as “empowered” ecosystems in which tourism supports the prosperity of the territory. This change of perspective is at the very heart of the regenerative approach to tourism.

Read our article on the subject: Taking care of your destination through a regenerative approach.