Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Approach as a Tool to Prevent Child Labor Migration and Trafficking: The Case of Kindo Kosha, Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The issue of children who migrate and are trafficked from the rural area of Wolaita to other cities such as Addis Ababa are causing political, social, economic, psychological, spiritual, and physical damage to the victim children as well as the communities, both in their origins and destinations. The traditional charity-based and need-based intervention approach in the community have been unable to eradicate child labor trafficking in Wolaita permanently. This gap inspired me to pilot an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) project to prevent child labor trafficking in Kindo Koysha, Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. To this end, a participatory action-based qualitative research method was used. The data was collected from primary and secondary sources using interviews, focus group discussions, observations, Appreciative Inquiry, and document reviews. The data was analyzed thematically and discussed. When the project was implemented, the community assets were inventoried, mapped, and mobilized continuously. The project resulted in a paradigm shift in the mindset among the stakeholders toward restoring all broken relationships among community assets: natural, institutional, cultural, spiritual, economic, and individual. Therefore, it was concluded that the ABCD approach is the right tool to replace the traditional approaches and strengthen other existing community-based interventions to transform the community holistically and in turn prevent child labor trafficking in Kindo Koysha and beyond. Keywords include community development, community assets, child labor, child migration, and trafficking.