Evidence and tools
Evidence, resources and practical tools and templates for supporting community-driven systems change
Evidence

We use learning and evidence gathering –

  • To understand the context, be responsive and relevant and meaningfully engage and collaborate with key stakeholders
  • To integrate learning with action so that data can guide improvements in design and implementation
  • To capture data on reach, outcomes and impact, and be transparent and accountable about these
  • To generate knowledge to influence and improve practice around the role of CBOs and communities in development and effective capacity building
Community-driven systems change
Community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in eastern and southern Africa
Malawi girls' secondary education
Community action to improve early childhood practices in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia
A guest perspective from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Hear the perspective of CBO leaders themselves
Adolescent girls
Increases in adolescent pregnancy in Malawi during COVID-19: how CBOs responded
Community action to improve girls’ secondary education in Malawi
How community organizations support girls empowerment in Rwanda
Khadija: A True Story of Girl Power in Malawi
Where the Girls Are: Finding, Funding and Fueling Grassroots Girls Solutions
Grassroots Girls Solutions: Six Grassroots Organizations Transform the Lives of Adolescent Girls
Early childhood development
Report on follow-up ECD study of CBOs in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia
Five key things we have learned about how to support communities to mobilize around early childhood development
Strengthening community-based organizations’ capacities to develop and implement local solutions for ECD
Quality of Learning and Care at Community-Based ECD Centers in Malawi
Panel: Civil society partnerships to improve quality at community-based ECD centers in Malawi
Ending child marriage
Tanzania child marriage
Community action to reduce child marriage in Shinyanga, Tanzania
Child and youth protection
How community-based organizations improve child protection systems
Bottom-up approaches to strengthening child protection systems: Placing children, families, and communities at the center
Reconsidering child protection systems
Learning in the primary school years
How is community action effective for children’s early learning?
Interim evaluation report of the Early Learning Innovation Fund
Secondary education
Girls Secondary Education Malawi Impact and Learnings Report
Children affected by HIV and AIDS
A Foot in the Door: evaluating the effect of community based organisation support on child wellbeing in HIV affected communities
Tools

At Firelight, we conducted a three-year process (2017-2020) of inquiry, co-creation and validation with community-based organizations to develop a clearer and deeper understanding of how change comes about at the community level, and how funders can more effectively support it. The result is our report, Community-Driven Systems Change: the power of grassroots-led change for long-term impact and how funders can nurture it.

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Download our report

Below is a set of tools that we use – shared here for donors and others to utilize if they wish to support this approach.

What is community-driven systems change?
Top Five Indicators of CBO Effectiveness
Participatory Reflection Tool
Grant Proposal and Report Template
Learning and Evaluation for Community-Driven Systems Change
Capacity strengthening for Community-Driven Systems Change
Guidelines for Interactions with CBO Grantees and their Communities
Grantmaking for Community-Driven Systems Change
Designing a New Initiative for Community-Driven Systems Change
Community-Driven Systems Change Report