With the expertise of our African team and over 20 years of experience, Firelight uses local networks and referrals to seek out organizations that are community born-and-raised, community-based and community-driven in service of children, youth and the communities in which they live – local changemaker organizations that want to help communities change lives and systems for children and youth.

We find them by working with a variety of local stakeholders such as youth, community members, community leaders, former Firelight grantee-partners, policy makers, and civil society. We don’t need organizations to be registered or have other donors already. We value an organization’s transparency and community-earned legitimacy. In fact, in choosing grantee-partners, we place a primacy on community members’ perspective on which organizations have earned their confidence, trust and respect.

We look for organizations that have or are actively building:

1. Relevant knowledge and experience in community-driven change

   • Experience in a program area that we are funding OR

   • If they do not have previous experience in the area we are funding, they have experience with the problem at hand and a well-founded desire to work to solve it

   • Deep community roots

   • Genuine connectedness to and trust of the community

   • Good understanding of local needs and available resources

   • Track record of working in partnership with and listening to the communities they serve

   • Sense of the problem they are trying to solve

   • Social capital to put plans into action

2. Organizational values and practices that are child- and community-driven

   • Respect for child and youth rights

   • Fundamental commitment to servant leadership, collaboration and co-creation with community

   • Commitment to community agency and empowerment

   • Commitment to looking at the root cause of a problem with the community

   • Holistic approach to their work

   • Commitment to long-term, sustainable solutions

   • Deep aspirations for the next generation of children and youth

3.  Strong organizational principles

   • Honesty, integrity, and transparency with their community

   • Entrepreneurial, innovative, and creative spirit

   • Culture of learning and adapting

   • Commitment to data, monitoring, and evaluation

   • Solid focus on programmatic quality

   • Commitment to sharing ideas, solutions, and lessons learned with others

   • Willingness to actively collaborate with others