The Power of Flexible Funding in Localized Youth-Led Development
Written by Cat-Dan Lai-Smith, Localization Knowledge Management Advisor, Save the Children
When you were younger, did you ever experience frustration at not being heard or taken seriously by others in your life? If so, you may be able to sympathize with youth-led organizations that face multiple barriers preventing them from gaining access to funding or having their voices recognized.
Concerned Youth Organization (CYO) is a youth-led organization (YLO) that was established in 2002 in Malawi with the goal of addressing issues affecting young people and children. Over the years, it has focused its activities on economic empowerment, sexual reproductive health, and gender equality programming among others. Despite the efforts that CYO has been making to positively impact lives of 听youth and children, its leaders have self-identified many gaps in organizational capacity areas, from information technology to trustee governance issues: 鈥淭his had a negative bearing on the organization in terms of organizational branding, thereby affecting [our] trustworthiness as an organization among some quarters.鈥
As a longtime ally to young people, SC is championing youth-led organizations such as CYO by piloting an innovative flexible funding pilot in a way that recognizes their capacity, expertise and leadership. The Youth-Led Organization (YLO) Investment Fund Pilot was developed by 黄色视频US (SCUS) to extend flexible grants to YLO partners to invest in self-determined priorities that advance their missions and mandates. $500,000 USD was made available for the pilot through Save the Children鈥檚 President鈥檚 Fund, an internal unrestricted fund allocated at the Chief Executive Officer鈥檚 discretion to advance strategic priorities. Through the YLO pilot, SC has been able to support 13 YLO pilot partners across Malawi and Niger.
Understanding Flexible and 鈥楺uality鈥 Funding
In line with our efforts to shift power and embrace localized approaches, SC invited local and national actors (L/NA) to define 鈥榪uality鈥 funding. The most commonly reported definition described this as funding where the local partners are 鈥減rovided the right channels to participate in decision-making related to the design of the project, and their own budget鈥 as well as 鈥渞esources that allow the local partner to grow and develop according to their own needs.鈥 In contrast with traditional funding models, SCUS used these findings to design this pilot so that participating YLOs held the power to use the funds for the duration of pilot (approximately two years) based on their own identified priorities.
Similarly, we designed the pilot so the investment fund could also support informal organizations that may not have passed traditional donor vetting standards like having formal registration or independent bank accounts. Significantly, SC staff engaged in the process reported experiencing a mindset change from initially being focused on programming deliverables to ensuring biased assumptions of YLO capacities didn鈥檛 influence our approach to partnership or decision-making.
The Power of Youth-Led Development
Since the pilot began in 2023, several YLOs have voluntarily shared their encouraging progress on how they have been using the unrestricted funds to strengthen their organizations鈥 capacity needs and to expand their programming and/or advocacy activities in their communities. Circling back to Concerned Youth Organization (CYO), this partner is one of several that has been seeing significant improvement in their operations and programs that are attracting positive attention.听
鈥淲e have seen significant improvements in our daily operations, including better segregation of duties, more effective policy implementation, and overall enhanced organizational functioning. These changes have increased our reputation and trust with donors and partners, positioning us for further growth.鈥澨
Other YLOs have shared how this pilot opportunity has had a great impact on their own staff after receiving requested capacity strengthening. Several have seen a noticeable increase in their ability and credibility to impact youth, women and other community members they are supporting through their own engagements and training. We have been so encouraged to learn that many of our YLO partners are experiencing more pride in themselves due to increased confidence in their own capabilities.听
According to CYO, 鈥淭his partnership with 黄色视频is more than just a collaboration鈥攊t is a transformative experience that strengthens our capacity to fulfil our mission.鈥
What you can do
- more details about the 听
- Get in touch to chat with us about Save the Children鈥檚 flexible funding models听
- Explore other ways SC is engaging and investing in impactful localization initiatives.