4-Trust and Solidarity

To strengthen their capacity for self-sustainability, several development initiatives foster trust and solidarity amongst members, collaborators, beneficiaries, etc.

Conveying trustworthiness to all the people and institutions involved is often very important for development initiatives. The projects that receive the most support –- both financially and from the people in a community– are often those that are clearly accountable and able to explain their goals, processes and long-term aspirations, as well as those that can clearly detail how they have benefited from material and human resources, or how they have achieved successful interventions. 

In other words, initiatives that build trust seem to attract the solidarity and participation of more people and institutions, which in turn helps them cover more areas of development and implement their projects in a way that is more comprehensive and relevant for everybody. By showing solidarity, people and organizations contribute new and varied material and knowledge resources, as well as their labor and their points of view. Thus, the cycle created by fostering trust and solidarity helps form new partnerships and cooperation dynamics, which in turn reduce the initiatives’ dependence on a single source of support, and allow them to negotiate with their partners on more equitable terms.

Some on-site initiatives have built trust by increasing their transparency and giving clear accounts of their results. Others have invented dynamics specifically devised to promote solidarity among communities to solve their shared problems without leaving anyone behind. Designating bridge builders has also proven to be useful, as it helps build collaborations with volunteers or external initiatives, or strengthen the participation of beneficiaries in the programs that are meant to help them. 

The more you are aware of the factors that are diminishing the self-sustainability of your project, the better you will be able to tackle and solve them in the long-term. Who is taking part in your initiative? How can you encourage the input, proximity and vigilance of more actors? Is there any factor that might be coming across as opaque in your project (such as management of funds, ways of demonstrating results, etc.)? Is your initiative being clear about how new contributors can participate and what kind of impact their collaboration might have?