What do we need to do differently to support community-driven systems change? A view from both sides – the donor and the grantee
In 2022 Dr. Sadaf Shallwani – Director of Learning and Evaluation at Firelight Foundation, and Mr. Jones Mwalwanda – Executive Director of Foundation for Community, Livelihood and Development Malawi (FOCOLD) sat down with Philanthropy Circuit for an interview to discuss the findings of Firelight’s pivotal report Community-Driven Systems Change: the power of grassroots-led change for long-term impact and how funders can nurture it.
Below are some of the highlights, but we encourage you to read the full interview here https://philanthropycircuit.org/insights/community-driven-system-change-a-catalyst-for-sustainable-development/ and/or the full report here – https://www.firelightfoundation.org/cdsc
Systems change needs to include community for it to be effective.
Sadaf – Globally, there is a conversation going on about systems change, but these discussions are mostly focused on national level strengthening… what our findings have shown is that community ownership and action have to be part of a systems approach (and) you can’t just fund national and international NGOs - you need to invest at the critical entry point of the community.
It is important to support community-based organizations because they have specific skills that are really effective in fostering community-driven solutions for lasting system change.
Jones – Community-based organizations are the trusted institutions in the communities. They are trusted because most times, these organizations are founded by people from the host communities. So in effect, they are assisting and helping their families in the community to live a better life.
Sadaf – Community organizations intentionally establish and build strategic partnerships/collaborations with different stakeholders – government officials, community leaders, elders, and even children and youth. These strategic partnerships are considered essential, not optional, in achieving genuine and lasting change.
Jones – CBOs have influence in the community and share the same vision with the people. The level of consultation that takes place between CBOs and their host communities is deeply rooted in shared concerns and shared end goals.
If change is to be achieved, it needs to include community.
For lasting impact and change to be achieved, the community must be at the center of it. It must be owned and driven by the community and those changes must address underlying systems and root causes. We can’t keep focusing on reacting to symptoms.
Global funding structures limit the potential of community-based organizations.
Sadaf – Global funding structures often limit or sometimes even undermine the potential of community-based organizations. Many funders tend to control these grantees and take away the power from them. Often, what happens is that donors or INGOs are instrumentalizing community organizations to achieve their own goals rather than the goals of the host communities.
There is a disconnect between what communities want from global north funders and what global north funders are willing to give.
Sadaf - There is a disconnect between how global North funders and how CBOs or communities conceptualize success and impact. For example –
Global North development and philanthropy tend to focus on measurable input, reaching scale, cost-effectiveness, and replicability – and these are not unvalued by CBOs - but they (CBOs) more deeply value that their host communities are empowered to create change on their own. CBOs want actions to be driven by communities, they want to see meaningful improvement in the lives of community members and ensure lasting change. CBOs focus on how they engage with local stakeholders and systems, the integrity of their leadership, accountability, and transparency.
When Global North organizations talk about organizational effectiveness, they tend to focus on issues such as robust governance, financial management, monitoring and evaluation. However, CBOs tend to focus on characteristics that make the organization more credible and trustworthy to the community.
What this means is that there is a mismatch, and that Global North organizations tend to judge CBOs’ effectiveness based on what’s important to them rather than what makes these CBOs effective in their local context.
Funders have done enough for INGOs – they need to support communities as legitimate systems actors now.
Jones - Global North funders should prioritize the provision of enough resources to CBOs. I feel they have done enough for INGOs and that’s good, but they should prioritize working with CBOs because these CBOs have the key to the communities and understand where the shoe pinches. They need to understand that CBOs are working based on firsthand information of issues affecting the communities and they have a collaborative way of addressing these identified issues.
Community-driven is not the same as localization.
Sadaf - While I appreciate the importance of being present in the local context, I don’t think it’s just about a Global North organization coming to set up an office, while the overall agenda is still being determined by the Global North organization.
Community-based is not the same as community-driven.
Sadaf - To have genuine local power and agency, it’s critical that agendas and decisions are determined by the people and communities themselves – supported by organizations that are rooted in and accountable to these communities.
We urgently need to move to a place of alignment for meaningful systemic change to happen.
Jones - Firstly, we need to trust CBOs just as we trust other kinds of organizations… a new relationship based on trust from Global North funders. These organizations need to trust that CBOs have the capacity to manage resources.
Jones - Secondly, I would want Global North organizations to consider working with CBOs as partners and not just as grantees. They must understand that we all want to see development and that the mission is the same.