Integrating Needs and Assets: Exploring the Future of Community Development Practice in Taiwan through a Contingency-Based Framework

Background and Purpose

Since the early 21st century, Taiwan’s community development policies have gradually shifted from a traditional Need-Based Community Development (NBCD) approach—centered on problem-solving and service provision—toward an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model that emphasizes local capacities, strengths, and participation. However, whether this policy shift has effectively translated into practice remains an open question. Have community interventions successfully moved beyond deficit-oriented logics? Can Taiwan’s diverse community contexts sustain a capacity-driven paradigm? And if ABCD reflects a current policy preference, how should practice strategies adapt to ensure alignment with local realities? This study seeks to respond to these critical questions by examining the dynamic interplay between NBCD and ABCD models within Taiwan’s community development landscape. It aims to identify gaps and tensions between institutional discourse and field-level practice, and to propose contextually grounded, socially responsive strategies for future policy formulation and practice implementation.

Method

This qualitative study employed a two-phase data collection strategy. In Phase I, 22 high-performing communities from Taiwan’s 22 counties and cities were purposively selected for field observations and in-depth interviews with community leaders. These interviews explored participants’ understandings, applications, and critical reflections on NBCD and ABCD approaches. In Phase II, drawing on preliminary analysis, 23 stakeholders—including scholars, practitioners, and policymakers with expertise in community development—participated in seven focus group discussions. Discussion topics included critical assessments of Taiwan’s community development experiences, observations of policy-practice gaps, and envisioning future models and strategic pathways.

Results

Through systematic analysis of field interviews and focus group data, the study identifies seven key findings that reveal both structural challenges and emergent possibilities in Taiwan’s community development practices: (1) The coexistence of local needs and abundant community assets; (2) The essential yet insufficient role of socio-economic conditions; (3) Discrepancies between participatory consciousness and collective action capacity; (4) Challenges in leadership succession and sustainability; (5) Organizational trust coupled with governance risks; (6) The cultural value of communities under threat due to preservation costs; and (7) The inadequacy of infrastructure to meet evolving and diverse community needs.

Conclusion and Implications

Since the early 21 century, Taiwan’s community development has become increasingly diversified and contextualized under the combined influence of policy advocacy and localized experimentation. However, considerable disparities remain across communities in terms of resources, challenges, participation dynamics, and historical trajectories. These variances, alongside inconsistent policy uptake, render a one-size-fits-all development model unfeasible. A rigid reliance on either NBCD or ABCD risks cultural misfit or implementation difficulties. This study advocates for a Contingency-Based Community Development (CBCD) approach—an integrative framework that flexibly draws upon both NBCD and ABCD strategies based on community-specific conditions and developmental stages. CBCD emphasizes adaptive practice that balances responsive problem-solving with asset mobilization, offering a nuanced path forward for community development policy and practice in Taiwan.