By: Awall Mustapha Osabutey
July 17, 2025
There has never been a more crucial moment to recognize and celebrate the strengths that rural communities already possess. In places experiencing both tremendous potential and rapid change, having a clear, organized picture of local assets can help build resilience and shape a shared vision for the future. This blog explores how the Riverdale Community Development Corporation within the Rural Municipality of Riverdale in Manitoba, in partnership with RDI, is exploring new opportunities for asset mapping. By combining local expertise with digital technologies, a well-being framework, and capacity-building approaches, the project is laying the groundwork for long-term development of the Rural Municipality of Riverdale.
We are working with the Riverdale Community Development Corporation to create an asset map that documents the community’s unique resources. These include physical and natural assets like Lake Wahtopanah, the Rivers Wetland Centre of Excellence, Rivers Game and Fish Ranges, and Rivers Provincial Park; social and cultural assets such as the Riverdale Community Centre, Rolling into Rivers Summer Event, Prairie Crocus Library; and critical services like the Rivers Daly volunteer fire department, Paramedics, Ambulance Service and a Health Centre which provides physician services, Lab and X Ray, Hip and Knee Rehab specialists and other health services. This process draws on secondary data sources, community feedback, and direct observation to ensure that residents’ voices shape what gets included. We are also exploring how AI tools can be incorporated to assist and improve the asset mapping process.
The local leadership have been extremely helpful so far and engaged, demonstrating a strong commitment to ensuring this initiative succeeds. Donna Morken, vice chair of Riverdale Community Development Corporation shared her perspective, saying, “this work is vital to continue moving our community forward and marketing it to others.” Showing them what we have here. That it is a great place to live, raise a family and become part of a “we can do anything”, community.
Importantly, this work is not just about collecting information; it is about empowering the community to plan its own future. By highlighting strengths across social, economic, natural, and physical assets, the asset map will help local leaders and residents see what they already have to build upon. This approach reinforces community identity, supports informed decision-making, and aligns with broader well-being and capacity-building frameworks to promote a holistic view of success. In Rivers, where there is already significant local knowledge and engagement, having a clear, organized understanding of community assets can strengthen development and long-term planning.
We are excited that this asset mapping project is a co-creation model that carefully integrates digital technologies to enhance local expertise in the process. This approach builds on the community’s human capital while making the process more efficient and transparent. Exploring and combining AI-assisted analysis with a well-being index and capacity-building framework offers an adaptable model that other rural communities can replicate to guide their own development journeys.
The anticipated results for this project include a tailored asset map, a community profile, and a toolkit that can help replicate the process elsewhere. Ultimately, our goal is to provide additional insights that help strengthen local capacity and build knowledge for long-term resilience and well-being in the Rural Municipality of Riverdale.
Over the coming weeks, we will continue engaging the community to finalize, populate and validate the asset map. In future posts, we will share more about the next steps, lessons learned, and opportunities to get involved as this project moves forward.