We understand that a top-down approach — without meaningful community involvement — often fails as it does not garner the essential community support and ownership necessary for community-based initiatives to succeed.
Community ownership is expressed as endorsement, participation, and community leadership. Meaningful engagement requires us to go beyond informing, to engaging communities as co-creators and leaders of change. Our aim is to foster community-led development, empowering community members to be decision-makers and active participants in their own development.
Our 5 Year Goal
Improved inclusion and collaboration with local stakeholders, with evidence that local organisations and leaders have become more effective in driving developmental change.
Opportunities to realise this goal:
1
Work with and cultivate innovative community leaders
2
Create awareness and enable participation
3
Interventions of compassion and care
Our work
Our Partnership With SCAT
The Lesedi communications team
Community response funds
SCAT Supported CBOs
1
Work with and cultivate innovative community leaders
1
Work with and cultivate innovative community leaders
- Capacitate local organisations to enable development by providing funding, training, and ongoing mentorship and support.
- Invest in the leadership capacity of individuals in our communities through leadership
development programs that empower people to lead change in their respective spheres.
2
Create awareness and enable participation
2
Create awareness and enable participation
- Use an effective communication strategy to ensure that the community understands, values, and trusts the work of the Trust.
- Connect community members to the opportunities and services our programs offer, such as connecting pregnant women to antenatal classes and ensuring that children at risk of dropping out are supported by child and youth care workers in their schools.
- Support our external implementing partners to create ongoing awareness campaigns and empower locals to gradually lead their work.
- Invest in monitoring and evaluation tools to improve our accountability to the communities.
- Engage with community structures, inviting community input into our strategies.
3
Interventions of compassion and care
3
Interventions of compassion and care
- Use some of our annual budget for donations, emergency relief, and other efforts of compassion and care. The Trust thereby goes beyond being a long-term investor to being responsive to immediate community needs.