How do you genuinely involve the community in project design, implementation, and monitoring? How do you avoid courtesy bias in needs assessments? How do you balance short-term needs with longer-term prosperity?

In this episode, you’ll hear from Olivia Barker White, a Co-Founder and the CEO of Kids Club Kampala.

You can find out more about Olivia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-barker-white-06102a17/

Or by following her on X: https://twitter.com/oliviambarker

Contribute More is hosted by Zac Parsons. Find out more about him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zwparsons/

// REFLECTION

Have a conversation with a colleague about how you involve key stakeholders. Do you think there are ways you could involve them more? Challenge yourself to consider whether you’re holding onto things you shouldn’t be because of ego or low expectations of your stakeholders.

// RESOURCES

Kids Club Kampala: https://www.kidsclubkampala.org/

For a summary of their independent evaluation: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/513cc55f82.html

Four phases of project management: https://hbr.org/2016/11/the-four-phases-of-project-management

// CHAPTERS

(0:00) Intro

(2:13) Why is a community-led approach important for Kids’ Club Kampala

(6:54) Importance of understanding the problem

(10:21) An overview of Kids’ Club Kampala’s approach to community-led development

(14:04) Balancing short- and long-term needs

(16:41) Solving for courtesy bias when performing needs assessments in international development

(19:54) Being community-led during the implementation of projects

(25:27) How to start being (more) community-led in your charity

(28:54) Outro

(30:10) Reflection