Local Organizations
a strategy for self-sustainability
More self-sustainability means having more autonomy and less reliance on external funding, expertise or decisions. It means having a larger capacity to choose and negotiate with other initiatives what’s best for your project and what’s not. It means an increasingly equitable participation, which will lead to development models that are more comprehensive and relevant for all, that is, more sustainable. Know more
Several development initiatives and projects become more self-sustainable by collaborating with local organizations –which sometimes involves strengthening existing ones or even creating them from scratch.
Involving local organizations in decision-making and project management can help initiatives increase their self-sustainability because it opens up a channel for organized communities to point out possible obstacles and opportunities to the project, and suggest what resources could be tapped and which solutions could be implemented to achieve more comprehensive interventions that are more relevant to local contexts. In addition, this engagement allows communities to have a say in their own development processes, negotiate their own interests, needs and points of view on more equitable terms, and make the projects their own.
Collaboration implies sharing resources and responsibilities with these organizations –such as infrastructure, experience, expertise, knowledge or workspaces– which helps make both the development initiative and the local organization more self-sustainable for a number of reasons: it prevents duplication of efforts, increases the potential reach and impact of projects using fewer resources, allows tasks to complement each other to create more comprehensive projects and, because of all this, reduces economic dependence on external sources of funding.
While some initiatives make the most of existing local organizations and collaborate with them, others work to strengthen existing ones or even create new ones. The type of local organization that is relevant depends on each initiative’s context. Some create village development committees or children’s parliaments in schools. Others help train and consolidate existing local bodies, such as unions or parents’ associations, by providing them with advice, workshops, etc. Still others form organizations and prepare them to gradually become independent and take control of the projects partially or completely until these take root in the communities fully.
There are many different ways to make the most of local organizations to make an initiative more self-sustainable. Take a look at how these projects have done it!
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