Despite various state and civil society interventions in the area especially through the Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA) and Area-based Management and Development (ABMD), Cato Manor is still one of the most vulnerable communities. Cato Manor's situation is further aggravated by the prevalence of growing poverty and unemployment more particularly among young people and by HIV/AIDS. It is against this background that the article is aimed at examining the impact and application of the ABMD model especially in facilitating development, expediting service delivery and promoting local democracy. The triangulation methodology such as interviews, observations and secondary data was used in order to collect relevant data for this article. The article revealed that although a lot of finance was poured into Cato Manor there is limited development in terms of job creation, economic opportunities, service delivery and institutional