The asset based approach in the new IDeA publication 'A glass half-full' is a fresh perspective on how to reduce inequalities in community health and wellbeing by assessing and building on the strengths and resources in a community to build resilience, increase social capital and develop better ways of delivering health outcomes. A growing body of evidence shows that when practitioners begin with a focus on what communities have (their assets) as opposed to what they don’t have (their needs) a community’s efficacy in addressing its own needs increases, as does its capacity to lever in external assistance.

This publication offers local authority and health practitioners and politicians an introduction to the assets approach and principles and examples of how it is being used in England. It also outlines a set of coherent and structured tools that put asset principles into practice.