Community-driven change: demonstrating impact in Africa and India
Published on
31 May 2024
Originally published on bridgespan.org by Pritha Venkatachalam, Riti Mohapatra, Ntefeleng Nene, Aditi Sharma, Umang Manchanda, and Roger Thompson.
For decades, philanthropy and governments have practised a top-down approach to funding, treating the symptoms and not the root causes of the most pressing social issues. By contrast, community-driven change (CDC) is an approach that can lead to more lasting and equitable impact—it challenges funders and NGOs to reimagine how they work by shifting power and decision-making to the people they serve.
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Growing together
In a remote village in Rukungiri District, what started as a small step and a group initiative five years ago has grown into a thriving community with coffee farms, apple orchards, and livestock rearing, bringing together 30 individuals to form a strong, cohesive group working collectively for a better future.
A future built on new learnings
Alex now gets much larger harvests from his Irish potato fields and keeps his livestock in shelters closer to home. “We were very poor and would spend days without having a single earning. That made me so worried about my young family,” he recalls. Today, his family eats three meals a day, his children are in school, and he is saving and investing in new livelihood activities.
Last-mile doesn’t mean last in line.
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Last-mile doesn't mean last in line. Every community deserves dignity and agency.