Context

In East Africa there is a big presence of grassroots organization. These organizations have a role to play in finding solutions to the challenges their communities face. They are part of their communities, they are committed to improve the quality of life of their people, and they understand their context.

As COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, agencies focused on protecting staff from COVID-19 infection by exiting the scene. Community based organizations (CBO) were left to support their people. However, from our experience interacting with these organizations, backed by global research findings most CBOs are unable to play their roles effectively because they lack skills, resources, and connections.

Our solution

 We support carefully selected grassroots organizations to blossom and thrive. To achieve this goal, we strengthen their capacity through a variety of strategies which include well thought out trainings, and individualized mentoring and coaching sessions. Our partners are grouped in clusters to allow for peer-to-peer learning and cross-pollination of ideas. The CBOs access subgrants from GRIC and we network them with likeminded institutions who provide additional fiscal resources.

Some of the key capacity strengthening areas identified and supported across our partners include documentation, monitoring, learning, and evaluation, financial and human resource management, resource mobilization and different methodologies of supporting children to learn.

Our entry point in the communities and engagements with local institutions is education. We believe that education is a game changer, it transforms lives. However, a good education is a dream to many in the communities we serve. To provide equal opportunities to quality education, we engage families and communities, which have a critical role to play to make this a reality.  Community based education builds sustainable and cost-effective systems that enhance learning for children and youth.