By Ntefeleng Nene, Nkanyiso Hlongwa and Robyn Porteous. Ntefeleng Nene and Nkanyiso Hlongwa are partners at The Bridgespan Group, based in Johannesburg, where Robyn Porteous is a Deputy Editor.
Setting the agenda at community level
In 2002, the Ubunye Foundation began its work in the rural Ngqushwa and Makana municipalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, with a desire to tap into the underlying strengths and capacity of the communities that lived there. The aim was for the communities to elevate their assets and mobilise them towards addressing community needs. The foundation soon realised, however, that the initiatives that were being implemented were not driven by the community itself; rather, the foundation was setting the de facto agenda, even though that was not its intent. This realisation prompted the launch of Siyakhana.
Meaning “building together,” Siyakhana is a community-led governance model that emerged through collaborative discussions to foster a deeper understanding of the community and how community leadership could enhance community decision-making. Today, Siyakhana operates with a three-tier governance structure that integrates community voices at every level: within programme working groups, a community advisory board, and Ubunye Foundation’s very own board of trustees.
By centring community ownership through Siyakhana, the Ubunye Foundation saw 309 community savings groups build more than R8 million in total savings as well as the launch of 15 distinct programme working groups that serve as critical mechanisms for promoting accountability, sustainability, and solutions that are entirely community led and managed.
While the foundation and the communities continue to learn and refine their approaches, Siyakhana demonstrates the profound impact that community-driven change (CDC) initiatives can have when paired with enabling systems, resources, and support from funders such as the Ubunye Foundation.
Defining Community-Driven Change
What makes community-driven change distinct and what makes it such a potentially powerful approach? A report by The Bridgespan Group published earlier this year, “Community-Driven Change: Demonstrating Impact in Africa and India,” defined CDC as “a social process whereby communities actively participate in, lead, and own the identification, design, and implementation of solutions for the issues they face.” Furthermore, a CDC approach emphasises “equity and inclusion by challenging power dynamics and elevating voices of historically marginalised groups of community members.”
The rationale for CDC is compelling. Evidence shows that CDC can work across different issue areas—such as livelihoods, climate, education, health, and sanitation—and different goals, including service delivery, advocacy, or systems change. The premise is simple yet powerful: when programmes are rooted in community choices and anchored by community action, they are more likely to lead to outcomes that are sustainable, inclusive, and equitable. (See Figure 1 below).
Yet, Bridgespan’s research also shows that proximate, community-driven organisations receive only a modest share of philanthropic gifts. Additionally, the most successful CDC examples we observed benefitted significantly from multi-year, flexible funding that enabled the implementing organisations to be agile in responding to the challenges that arose on the path to CDC. In both senses, it’s an enormous opportunity for funders.
The Role of Funders in Promoting Community-Driven Change
If you think about it, CDC is more than just another philanthropic trend. Fundamentally, it represents a paradigm shift to drive impact in a more progressive and sustainable way by changing communities from being recipients of aid from others to being “owners” who drive change for themselves. At its heart, CDC is a social process whereby communities drive the solutions for the challenges they experience.
A survey conducted by The Bridgespan Group reveals promising evidence that greater commitment to and support of community based can deliver results that contribute to long-term resilience. On the question of its role in strengthening power, 66 percent of respondents from communities in Kenya, India, and South Africa, where a CDC approach was implemented, reported an increase in their power to influence the community’s decisions. Eighty-three percent said that strong leadership either exists or is being built in their community.
On building assets to lay the foundation for the self-determination that is essential to CDC, one in two respondents said they were able to access additional resources from government, NGOs, CBOs, and/or the community itself. Additionally, 83 percent said they were able to build soft skills, such as confidence, teamwork, and collaboration throughout the process.
Since CDC intentionally emphasises equity lens, it is significant that 78 percent of respondents noted that CDC implementing organisations intentionally prioritised the needs of historically marginalised individuals. There was also a 20 percentage-point increase in the focus of development activities on marginalised communities specifically, from 72 percent to 92 percent, after a CDC approach was applied.
None of this means that funders aren’t involved. Indeed, they have a crucial role to play in creating systems that empower communities to take ownership. For funders who are new to CDC, as well as those seeking to enhance their ongoing efforts, questions often arise: what does it mean to support CDC effectively? What actions are necessary to foster community ownership? Insights from our research into efforts like the Ubunye Foundation, offer valuable starting points.
What Siyakhana has achieved illustrates that when communities are placed at the centre of decision-making and adequately resourced, in this case by the Ubunye Foundation, they become powerful agents of their own transformation. However, this level of autonomy and impact is not achieved in isolation. Often, it hinges on funders creating enabling systems by adopting approaches that prioritise trust, provide flexible funding (an often-scarce resource), and invest in capacity building. These enabling systems allow funders to help communities not only to address their immediate challenges, but also to develop effective frameworks for sustainable change.
What Funders Can Do to Support Community-Driven Change
A funder interested in promoting CDC might start by reflecting on traditional philanthropic practices and considering strategies that prioritise community ownership. Based on our research and observations from engagements in the field, we suggest three key approaches for funders who seek to promote CDC:
- Fund the process of building and strengthening community power and assets: CDC requires investment in more than just outcomes; it necessitates funding the processes that enable communities to lead. This includes capacity building, leadership development, and the creation of platforms and structures that enable communities to organise and make decisions. The idea is to strengthen community power and assets: help communities build their collective power to advocate for their needs and influence change; and mobilise the existing strengths within the community, including individual skills, local organisations, cultural knowledge, and community leaders.
- Cultivate existing nonprofit partners that exhibit a CDC mindset and identify new ones: Funders can amplify their impact by working with organisations that already integrate community ownership into their approach. By prioritising grassroots organisations with a deep understanding of local contexts, funders can not only bridge gaps in traditional funding approaches but also foster community decision-making. In turn, community decision-making can enhance ownership and collective buy-in from stakeholders, empowering them to drive progressive change more effectively.
- Revisit traditional approaches to measurement and evaluation to assess community self-determination beyond programmatic impact: Effective CDC prioritises community self-determination over narrowly defined programmatic outcomes. Thus, funders might wish to explore metrics that assess empowerment, leadership development, and sustainability, alongside traditional impact indicators. This approach not only provides a fuller picture of progress but also strengthens the local ecosystem, fostering the capacity and vested interest needed to drive sustained impact and create lasting change.
Cataylsing a future shaped and improved by communities
CDC offers a transformative path forward for philanthropy and the social impact sector. By shifting the focus from external solutions to community-led and -owned action, funders have the power to unlock equitable and lasting change. Initiatives like Siyakhana serve as testaments to what is possible when communities are entrusted with agency, resources, and support to lead their own development journeys.
For funders, embracing CDC is not only about rethinking what and how to fund — it is also about reimagining the very nature of their partnerships with communities. By fostering trust, investing in capacity building, and centring community voices that are often overlooked, philanthropy can catalyse a future where communities are not just participants, but leaders in shaping and improving their own destinies.
Figure 1: Evolution of Community’s Role in Community-Driven Change