A recent study commissioned by Firelight and facilitated by Education Design Unlimited shines a new light on these challenges and the ways in which community-based organisations (CBOs) across southern and eastern Africa are responding – not just to mitigate the effects of crisis, but to build resilience too.
Visiting communities at work in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, the 2025 CBO Resilience Report shows the breadth and depth of crises faced, with:
· Environmental crises: Floods, droughts, and cyclones (for example, cyclone Freddy in Malawi) disrupting livelihoods and CBO operations.
· Political instability: Election tensions and forced evictions (for example, Tanzania’s Maasai communities) undermine long-term development.
· Economic hardships: Inflation, the rising cost of goods and economic instability were associated as distractors for resilience. CBOs are compelled to reallocate resources away from developmental programs and focus on crisis management, usually leaving narrow room for long-term growth.
· Health emergencies: COVID-19 and cholera outbreaks strained community resources and exposed gaps in mental health support and infrastructure.
The real value of the report, though, lies in what it captures about the way in which communities and their CBOs are answering these calamities, and the power they are realizing through three vital frameworks that underpin their resilience-building efforts.
It describes a social capital framework through which CBOs are using strong community networks and trust to build proactive and responsive resilience and boosts reactive resilience by developing community plans that address the unexpected.
Deeply rooted local knowledge and indigenous practices (like the development of drought-resistant crops in Malawi) make up a second framework and play a critical role too, complementing modern strategies and the strengths of social capital to help communities develop context-specific solutions and thrive amid adversity.
The third framework bolstering CBO efforts to build resilience relates to their governance strengths and the effective leadership that enables them to adapt to challenges because it is informed by transparent decision-making processes.
Together, these three frameworks give CBOs unique agency. In Kenya, they endowed CBOs with the flexibility they needed to sustain vital services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Tanzania, they enable CBOs to promote climate-smart agriculture. In Zambia, the ability to leverage traditional knowledge is helping communities adapt to climate change while in Malawi farmers are drawing on both traditional and modern methods to cope with climate variability, and the ability to unlock social capital played a key role in managing another emergency:
“During the cyclone, our CBO organized volunteers to help clean up and provide food. Our deep connection with the community made it easier to mobilize quickly.” – CBO from Malawi
For all the stories of impact driven by CBOs, and the frameworks which nourish them, there are limits to the resilience-building strengths of CBOs.
Fundamental challenges hold CBOs back from doing more of what they do so well. There are resource limitations and over-reliance on external funding, which threaten sustainability of their efforts. Weak collaboration between CBOs and governments, often means that they are excluded from formal disaster management plans. Mental health stigma was realized to be limiting post-crisis recovery due to a lack of formal support structures, which remains a critical unmet need.
If we are to really empower CBOs to build the resilience of Africa’s communities, we must all play our part:
· Governments must formalize CBO roles in disaster management planning and support them.
· Donors must provide flexible funding through multi-year grants to support long-term resilience.
· CBOs themselves must act to diversify their funding, integrate traditional knowledge, and prioritize mental health programs.
It is not enough to simply recognize the unique powers of CBOs to build a stronger and more resilient Africa, and communities that can withstand crises of climate change, food insecurity and extreme poverty. As the report makes clear, we must actively support them to do it too.
Read the full report here.
