Butterfield (PhD), AliceAlemu, Solomon2020-12-222023-11-042020-12-222023-11-042020-10http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/24289This study focuses on revealing the process of founding a small-scale locality-based social development organization called Ubuntu Family-Based Child Support Initiative (hereafter referred as Ubuntu for short), which was established by me (the researcher) in collaboration with faculty members at Ambo University, in Ambo town, Ethiopia. Ubuntu’s social development program was intentionally initiated and organized as part of social work practice and community engagement to address the needs of poor and vulnerable families. Using autoethnography as the principal research method, the study reveals my journey while I executed the day-to-day activities of the Ubuntu social development organization. This action-oriented autoethnographic study employs multiple data collection instruments such as key informant interviews, focus group discussion, informal conversations, field notes, and document review. The findings reveal that employing the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach was effective in founding and promoting a locality-based social development organization to address the needs of families living in extreme poverty. The overall Ubuntu experience mobilizes and engages stakeholders for effective locality based social development. The Ubuntu Service User Families (USUFs) have been committed to improve their living condition through income generating activities when they learned that, it is their fellow citizens who were supporting them compared to foreign or government aid. The emergence of Ubuntu in Ambo University also served as a bridge to create a functional University Community Partnership (UCP) to bring about mutual benefits for the University and the local community. Key findings include the indispensable catalytic role of an academic-practitioner, the support of university leadership, and collaboration with multiple stakeholders in founding a legally registered social development organization within a public university. The Ubuntu experience affirms the possibility of replicating a similar locality-based social development organization in other universities in Ethiopia. Keywords: Autoethnography, Ubuntu, Social Development, Asset Based Community Development, University-Community Partnership, Academic-Practitioner, Ethiopia.en-USAutoethnography, Ubuntu, Social Development, Asset Based Community Development, University-Community Partnership, Academic-Practitioner, Ethiopia.Thesis