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INVESTING IN COMMUNITY ACTION

Community action in sub-Saharan Africa plays a central role in alleviating the impact of HIV, AIDS and poverty on vulnerable children and their families. A very large proportion of the assistance that vulnerable families receive comes from community-based organizations and extended families (for more information, click here).

Community action takes different shape in every community. In its simplest form, it is organized by small informal groups of concerned individuals that come together to respond directly to the needs of local community members. In other cases, efforts take a more formalized shape when concerned individuals decide to create organizations to strengthen the community response to local needs.

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have a direct, ongoing relationship with the families in their villages. They mobilize and involve local leaders, community members, networks, and local resources to ensure that:

• children are nurtured and provided with food, shelter, and an education;
• people living with HIV and AIDS receive treatment and counseling; and
• vulnerable individuals and families can access the government-provided education and health care services to which they are entitled.

Most CBOs in Africa operate on very small budgets with a largely volunteer effort. So even though communities and grassroots groups are the greatest source of support to children and families, their meager resources are being stretched to the limit, particularly now in the midst of the global economic downturn.

Grassroots groups are capable of doing much more than their current resource levels will allow. Community-based initiatives have the ability to launch sustainable and effective large-scale responses that even the most well-funded international assistance efforts may not be able to accomplish on their own.

Yet one of the biggest obstacles that community groups face is that their work is under-recognized and under-funded.

Firelight Foundation seeks to address this gap. We are one of a very few foundations that partners with small CBOs. Many grantmakers are too often reluctant to fund emerging community-based organizations either because they are misclassified as “risky investments” in terms of accountability, or because small grants given internationally are viewed as difficult to administer or not worth the effort.

Our nearly 10 years of experience tells us otherwise:

One of the most effective and sustainable ways to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable children and families is to strengthen community structures and the organizations that know, understand, and care for them.

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