Differentiation

Several development projects seek to become more self-sustainable by innovating solutions or adapting working models in a way that differentiates them from other initiatives.

For many projects, building more self-sustainable interventions requires coming up with and promoting solutions that –unlike standardized development models– are able to target and address specific contextual needs. This allows them to be more relevant to the interests and needs of their beneficiary communities, design more comprehensive solutions to tackle their problems and attract their engagement, which –in addition to being important for achieving more equitable development processes– often comes with valuable contributions of time, knowledge, labor and infrastructure that make the initiative less dependent on external resources.

Furthermore, as resources in the development field are scarce, some projects leverage their distinct features –that is, whatever makes them stand out, be seen as different or original– to show potential donors why their specific intervention is worth supporting. After all, there are many projects competing for the same financial resources. 

Some initiatives systematize their models or organize participatory diagnoses in order to map out the current state of affairs of their target problems, the resources they have at their disposal and the opportunities they can leverage to adapt to their contexts. Other initiatives design feedback mechanisms (meetings, rating systems, etc.) to make the most of their participants’ diversity of opinions and to better adapt some aspects of their programs, making them flexible and sensitive to specific interests and needs. Others form teams especially appointed to analyze, explore and detect innovation opportunities. And some implement pilot projects to test novel ideas out which might offer alternatives before scaling up. Still others are convinced that the best way to stand out in their ability to address problems is to experiment with innovative interventions and demonstrate their effectiveness, and then convince others that these are worth scaling or replicating.

And once initiatives have developed distinctive features, many rely on the media, organize publicity campaigns or invent other forms of promotion. In this way, they emphasize their particularities to convince potential collaborators or participants that their unique way of doing things has worked.