What is KPA?

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KPA: A Framework to Increase Success of Anti-Poverty Projects

The Knowledge for Poverty Alleviation (KPA) framework is a development model that is built on two recent, powerful development paradigms, Knowledge-Based Management and Sustainable Development.

The KPA framework can be used in the participatory design and evaluation of anti-poverty projects at the community level to increase chances of project success and sustainability. KPA emphasizes the importance of recognizing a community’s intangible assets, and proposes a set of actions to use internal and external assets to sustainably protect and build local tangible and intangible assets. Sustainability is pursued along the three domains of sustainable development: social empowerment, environmental protection, and economic sustainability.

The KPA Framework


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This framework equips the development community with a new lens with which to view the poverty situation at the grassroots level. With a new pair of eyes, new strategies and options for improving well-being of low-income communities surface. New tools and approaches for harnessing the strengths of the community emerge. A new way to increase the chances of success of poverty alleviation projects and to sustain gains is developed.

The KPA framework was initially proposed by CCLFI.Philippines, a leading knowledge-based management and organizational learning advocacy and service provider in the Philippines, and is now being applied by the Peace and Equity Foundation, which is a leading loan and grant-giving institution in the Philippines.

Developing the KPA framework is a collaborative work in progress.  Results of on-going theoretical and operational developments are presented in this website in the hope that other collaborators, co-operators and supporters can join in its further development, operationalization and application.  This collaborative learning-in-action, we believe, is the best way to ensure continuous improvement, synergy of wider experiences on what works, wider ownership and fruitful adaptation of the KPA framework for the poor in the Philippines, Asia and elsewhere.

Learn more about how we can work together in building a truly effective framework.

Intangible assets: Creating value for communities

Fundamental changes sweeping the global economy point to one emergent reality: knowledge and other intangible assets have now become the most important of resources. This can be observed in the corporate sector where market values have continuously grown way over book values.

Indeed, intangible assets have become more important than tangible assets as repositories and creators of market value.

The same can be observed in communities. An analysis Talisayon, S. (1991). “Lessons” in: Serafin D. Talisayon (Ed.). Innovative Development Processes in the Philippines: Case Studies. Asian Center, Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines.of seventeen successful and innovative development projects in the Philippines revealed that their underlying success factors were not technical or tangible factors but largely “internal changes in the participants” such as a “we” feeling among the community (cohesiveness, or high social capital), a strong feeling that “this project is ours” (sense of ownership), and strong commitment (the motivational aspect of human capital).

At the national level, the intangible quality of “social trust” had been correlated by FukuyamaFukuyama, F. (1995). Social Capital and the global economy. Foreign Affairs. 74(5):89-103 with lower transaction costs and higher level of economic development. In a U.K. government review, various studies noted that high social capital is associated with better health, improved longevity, better educational achievement, lower rates of child abuse, and less corruption in government.

The lesson is clear: development is not just about technology, money and physical infrastructures, development is also and perhaps more so, about “inner infrastructures” such as trust, commitment, goodwill, sense of ownership, self-worth, etc. Sustainability is not only economic viability, it is also human and social empowerment as well as caring for the earth and all its life-giving natural support systems.

Hence, it is by leveraging the intangible assets of a community that anti-poverty projects can succeed.

A project can interact with the community's assets and vulnerabilities in various ways.

Relationship between a project and community assets/vulnerabilities Example
Using intangible assets to build tangible assets and more intangible assets.  A project can use, take advantage of, or leverage on combinations of existing community intangible assets to build tangible assets. The aspirations of the community members for a better life, coupled with a strong community organization that has generated a lot of goodwill with a funding organization, and the trust that the community has among each other, are all used to make a project achieve its objectives.  
Address weaknesses in intangible assets.  The project neutralizes, makes up for, fills the gap, or address one or more weaknesses in community intangible assets.   A project may strengthen the systems and processes of a community organization to reduce opportunities for corruption, or recruit a different leader with widely known integrity to guide an organization in rebuilding the tarnished image of the community.  Healing ethnic, religious or social conflicts across different or among heterogeneous groups (“bridging” social capital) or facilitating growth of trust, goodwill and cooperation within a homogeneous group (“bonding” social capital) may be needed prior to any development project.
Using tangible assets.  The project uses, takes advantage of, or leverages on whatever little tangible assets a community may have.  A project, for example, may use grant money to start an enterprise most appropriate to the unique cultural and human capital of the community.
Sustainable build-up of structural and stakeholder capital.   To increase chances of sustaining project gains, a livelihood project, for example, may have set up a reliable export marketing channel, or may have trained local leaders in managerial and entrepreneurship skills.
Seeking affirmative and equitable access rights.   Access rights for the community to land, natural, scenic, cultural-historical and other resources can be obtained from the local or national government, or from private property owners.  Such rights are a form of capital because it enables the community to use it for production purposes.
Seeking legislative or policy reforms.  There are systemic drains outside the control of local communities which contribute to local poverty.  These include drain in natural capital, in human capital, in fiscal resources, and in private financial resources. The government can take affirmative action to remove or reduce these drains.

Rediscovering the wealth of “poor” communities: identifying intangible assets

The label “poor” carries with it many connotations, all of which denote a sense of being in need and lacking in many respects. The usual impression is that the poor don’t have much, and in extreme cases, don’t have any. Hence, they need external interventions so they can acquire needed resources to get them out of poverty.

However, what we normally do not realize is that while communities may be poor or wanting in some respects, these communities are rich in many other aspects. For example, a community may

  • have good leaders or strong community organizations that are dedicated in assisting the community;
  • maintain good relationships with the government and other partners that can be tapped to help the community;
  • possess a rich culture that encourages community members to help each other;
  • have strong social ties that allow for supportive mechanisms; and
  • maintain harmonious relationships with a natural environment that provides for the community’s needs.

These are just a few examples of a community’s wealth. The difficulty is that these forms of wealth are mostly intangible and are therefore hard to measure and value in monetary terms. As a result, these oftentimes remain unrecognized, untapped and unutilized. Communities do possess a variety of these intangible assets or capital, which can, if managed well, play an important role in generating more intangible and even tangible assets needed to improve the well-being of a low-income community.

KPA recognizes at least seven types of intangible assets.

Type of Intangible Asset Examples
Human capital Experiences and skills of community members, exceptional local leader, training and experience from previous work, education, energy of youth, aspirations, community memory
Social capital Informal relationships, loyalties and roles based on trust, respect, long practice, kinship, which have been contributing to united and effective community action
Indigenous knowledge Specialized skills handed down orally or through mentoring, such as in music and arts, natural remedies, medicinal herbs, martial arts, etc.
Cultural capital Community beliefs and practices, local artifacts or places with national cultural or historical significance
Natural capital Access rights to natural, scenic and other resources based on traditional practice, location or proximity, formal agreement, permission from government or donation from private sector
Stakeholder capital Reputation of the community, relationships with outside organizations or individuals, various forms of support from external groups
Structural capital Presence of community-based organizations, tools, technologies, processes, records and systems of the community

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