The Value of Local Knowledge

We partner with local community-based organizations that share our vision, values, and mission. Our partners are the linchpin of our programs, essential to our ability to deliver the Trickle Up Spark Grant, training, and savings support to enable the very poor to create sustainable livelihoods.

Working through our local partners allows us to adapt our program to fit the needs and context of local communities. We work with 30 local organizations–grassroots and larger national agencies–in some of the poorest countries of the world: India, Guatemala & Nicaragua, and Mali & Burkina Faso.

Often, the partners we select have long been working in poverty alleviation, women’s empowerment, agriculture, or other local community development issues, but have not had the capacity to serve the very poorest people in their communities. Partner staff speak the local language, are familiar with local customs, and have a trusted presence in the villages where we work.

With the training and resources we provide, our partners learn to use locally appropriate poverty selection and assessment tools and provide training to participants to start and sustain their microenterprises. A Trickle Up field office anchors each region, selecting and training staff from community-based partners to implement and monitor Trickle Up’s model, while providing continuous support.