Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)

PI: CEDESOL, Foundation for Sustainable Development (Bolivia), Buffett Institute for Global Studies

In this study Caroline Olsen and I used an ABCD model to develop education modules for a rural school with the delivery of energy stoves.

Read our publication in the International Undergraduate Journal for Service Learning, Leadership and Social Change.

As an engineering intern with the Center for Development with Solar Energy (CEDESOL), a non-for-profit organization that creates and delivers ecological solar energy stoves to rural communities, I worked with my teammate Caroline for 10-weeks to prepare education modules for 5th graders that were delivered to rural community schools of Cochabamba, Bolivia. The education modules were implemented in the classroom curriculum in conjunction with the delivery of solar powered stoves.

Using an asset based community development model, my responsibilities included communicating from the city of Cochabamba to Toro Toro, the rural community we were working with to plan our visit, maintain financial records and budgets for a trip of four people. We conducted  interviews with the teachers and students, and assessed their daily firewood usage to create our educational modules.

We formally interviewed 20 students across five schools. We were also able to formally interview five teachers and school administrators during our time. Most importantly, through informal conversations over dinner and engaging in their everyday activities, we learned about the community needs for new educational materials due to the lack of funding from the state.