Locally led development empowers communities to drive their own progress, ensuring sustainable and meaningful impact. Read on to discover the benefits of this approach and how to create a locally led development program.
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Locally led development, also called community-led development, puts communities at the forefront of their own progress. It shifts the power dynamic, allowing you to tailor projects to specific needs and contexts – especially when funding is uncertain.
And it works. Studies show that community-driven initiatives often have higher success rates and greater sustainability than top-down approaches.
In this article, we’ll explore how nonprofits can use this approach to maximize their effectiveness and foster long-term change, particularly in the uncertain and (somewhat) unpredictable nature of the development landscape recently.
Locally led development (LLD), similar to community-led conservation, is an approach that prioritizes the agency and ownership of local communities in their own development processes.
Instead of outsiders creating solutions, LLD emphasizes local knowledge, resources, and leadership.
It recognizes that communities are best positioned to understand their unique challenges and opportunities, and that sustainable change is more likely when solutions are rooted in local realities.
The focus of locally led development includes:
All in all, building this partnership with local communities will allow your organization to add more tailored resources that directly contribute to boosting the effectiveness of your programs.
We are living and operating in times of huge funding cuts, shuttered organizations, and dismantled programming as a result of the Trump administration’s closing of USAID and the foreign aid freeze.
With the loss of funding from USAID, locally led development offers organizations an opportunity to continue serving their missions through a different approach – one that works.
Locally led development creates a community of practice where there are groups of people with a shared passion and goals working together to solve a particular problem.
Benefits include:
With these benefits in mind, let’s take a look at the steps to implement a locally led development program.
Begin by engaging with local communities to understand their needs, priorities, and existing capacities.
This step is where goals and expectations are set or changed, which ultimately sets the groundwork for partnership building.
From the beginning, decision-making should be a shared task to foster a collaborative and open atmosphere, eliminating any unbalanced power dynamic.
Establish partnerships with local organizations, leaders, and stakeholders. These partnerships must be equitable and collaborative. Consider a community of practice approach to foster this collaborative and equitable atmosphere.
Corporate-nonprofit partnerships are essential as an alternative to the reduction in “traditional” grant funds available. Many for-profit companies are interested in partnering with social impact organizations or, if they’re large enough, have a social impact arm themselves!
Building connections and networks will make forming these partnerships easier and lay the groundwork for deeper collaboration in the future.
Conduct a thorough needs assessment with the community to identify specific challenges and opportunities.
There are several steps to accurately complete this assessment, and this step will look different for every organization.
Prioritize collaborating with diverse local actors to identify challenges, needs, and priorities. This step also involves recognizing and enabling local actors’ involvement in the whole project – from framing to delivery and beyond.
In addition, your organization must understand and appreciate the local context by involving local stakeholders in conversations and policy development. This can be achieved through the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC) monitoring exercise, which assists with understanding stakeholder engagement and representation.
Design or redesign programs that fit the local context and address the needs identified in the step above.
Additionally, ensure that local knowledge and resources are incorporated into the design. Where funding or other support is used, it should be as “unrestricted” as possible. This allows more freedom and flexibility in designing the most aligned solutions and support.
Pro tip: Feeling stuck on this step? Check out DT Global’s LLD framework.
Provide training and resources to build the capacity of local organizations and community members.
This could include skill development, leadership training, and organizational development. Capacity strengthening should be done with a flexible, long-term approach.
When it comes to fundraising for locally led development programs, you’ll need to educate your donors about your approach – and how it’s different.
Use your donation page to clearly illustrate how your new program works, and how their funds will support this work of lifting up communities with development that is driven locally.
For example, Hope for Colombia uses their Donorbox donation page to showcase this approach and invite more generosity.
Where possible, explore grant opportunities to support locally led initiatives. This piece on government grants for nonprofits can be used as a guide to find grants for your organization.
Note, however, that there has been a decline in the availability of grants from institutional donors since the collapse of USAID. Be sure to complement this grant search with explorations of alternative funding sources such as corporate partners or individual donors, as mentioned above.
Establish a monitoring and evaluation framework that involves local stakeholders.
Use community feedback to make adjustments and improvements to the program.
Community members must also be trained on your monitoring and evaluation framework. Remember, the aim is to allow them to carry out all aspects of a project or initiative themselves!
Organizations must change their internal culture to get staff ready for this shift to more locally led development.
This approach requires fostering trust, empowering local teams, and broadening the decision-making processes.
It also means accepting that local actors understand their situations best and further underlines this shift, moving away from top-down control and embracing collaboration.
MzN International, a social impact consulting firm based in Germany, is a world leader in supporting organizations to be the best they can be.
We have extensive experience in supporting organizations all across the globe to prepare and restructure for community-led engagement. Our services include strategic planning, capacity building, and impact measurement, ensuring sustainable and meaningful change within the communities.
Explore strategies and tips for building stronger connections and boosting support for your cause.
Locally led development is not just a trend – it’s a necessary shift towards more effective and sustainable development practices.
By empowering communities and prioritizing local ownership, nonprofits can achieve greater impact and create lasting change.
In short, embracing LLD ensures that development efforts respond to the needs and goals of the people they serve. This type of intentional change will take time, so all partners must approach this new dynamic with patience and consideration.
If you’re looking for a partner to help you start or revitalize a locally led development program, reach out to MzN International.
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Toni-Ann is a Consultant with MzN specializing in organizational & strategy development, monitoring, evaluation & learning, research, data science, and project management. She has more than 7 years of experience working with public and private organizations across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
Toni-Ann has worked with international donors such as the UNDP, USAID, PAHO, UNICEF, IADB, and GIZ, among others, and is familiar with the inner workings of several of these organizations.
Toni-Ann is passionate about incorporating new technological developments in development work and actualizing these for positive, sustainable advancement globally.
She has a BSc in International Relations and Spanish as well as a MA in International Relations with Development. Based near Stuttgart, Toni-Ann speaks fluent English and Jamaican Patois along with intermediate Spanish and elementary German.
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