Giving for Change programme - Ghana

The aim of Giving for Change – funded by the Dutch government’s ‘Power of Voices’ programme – is to foster local giving as an expression of voice, civic participation, solidarity and dissent. The programme will build evidence around new thinking, approaches and leadership that support community philanthropy development. Giving for Change will promote community philanthropy as a strategy for achieving community-led development by increasing local ownership, buy-in and claiming of rights, and by challenging the notion that development is something that is “done to” communities by external actors. Against a global background of shrinking civic space, Giving for Change will encourage civil society organizations, including and especially human rights organizations, to value and adopt local resource mobilization as a form of constituency building, and as a way to strengthen their position as legitimate champions and defenders of diverse causes, with strong roots in the communities they serve. #ShiftThePower. While the programme will maintain an explicit focus on strengthening rights and claiming capacities of communities in relation to public government structures, another dimension of it relates specifically to challenging power dynamics, and establishing more equitable practices within the international development system itself. Programme activities will include action research, trainings and grants to stimulate local giving, which will be led in each country by national anchor institutions. The role of consortium members will be to help “weave” dialogue, learning and exchange across the programme itself, as well beyond to global platforms and audiences as part of larger advocacy and influencing efforts to transform development and philanthropic practice.