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Abstract/Summary
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The invariable governmental approach to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to effect theWhite Knight stance of Don Quixote, defending the population from the “Virus Dragon” and dedicatingits knight-errantry to the damsel Dulcinea. Though essential, new therapeutics, vaccines, physical dis-tancing, rigorous hygiene standards and efficient health systems are not sufficient to counter the effectsof the virus. Individual compliance to public health guidelines also matters, while remaining similarlyinsufficient to diminish the threat. Earthier, citizen-led, community participation strategies, however,lead to innovative, tailored solutions that better fulfil the needs of diverse neighbourhoods and assuresgreater virus resistance and increase in population health compared to a top-down, knightly approachor isolated individual efforts. The challenge of COVID-19 offers communities a moment to build moreresilient, antifragile communities that not only survive the current crisis, but that thrive after it, and thatare better equipped for the next challenge. This is not the time for the singular heroics of the WhiteKnight, or the antics of Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. It is the time of Sancho Panza, which is to say ofregular non-credentialed citizens, and their collective efforts, who up to now have largely been consid-ered pawns in this contest. Asset-based community development (ABCD) rejects both the individual asan island and the institutional, knightly emphasis on assessing needs and deficits within communities. Itfavours identifying and mobilising available and latent assets within a community to forge closer connec-tions among all people, the better to collectivise problem-solving efforts. Community-driven initiativesare assisted in this by localised not-for-profit agencies that practice subsidiarity.
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