I came across this nifty tool when I attended the 6th ANSER conference in Victoria, June 6, 2013. The Community Capital Tool is a decision support and assessment tool, based on the community capital framework, that is designed to facilitate and ground community discussion about integrated planning and monitoring.
At the conference, Gretchen Hernandez, Sean Markey, Alfredo Seoane and Alberto Mollinedo described the tool and its application in Bolivia.
The community capital framework stems from the work of Cornelia and Jan Flora who advanced that communities that were successful in supporting healthy sustainable community and economic development paid attention to seven types of capita - natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial and built – and how they interacted and built on one another.
While I’ve been drawn to the community capital framework for many years as a useful way to conceptualize sustainable community development, this was the first tool that I’ve seen that applies the concept practically to engage different community members in development.
The Community Capital Tool comprises two related instruments, the Community Sustainability Balance Sheet and the Community Capital Scan. It is available free online in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It is the product of collaboration between Simon Fraser University’s Sustainable Community Development Centre and Telos, Brabant Center for Sustainable Development, Tilburg University, Netherlands.
For more information and to download the tool, click here