Community Empowerment

At Help a Child, we believe true change happens when communities own their development journey, when every voice – especially the most marginalized – is heard and valued, and when our interventions create lasting transformation that endures beyond our direct involvement. These core values shape our approach to every project.

Community Empowerment is therefore a core principle in our work. We strongly believe that development is about enabling people to regain control of their own lives. This is not an easy or a quick-fix solution; it often takes time and there are setbacks.

But we see the results in the lives of children: if the community and parents are strong enough to take care of the children themselves, it will benefit the children in a sustainable way.

Through the Child-Centred Community Development projects, we work towards this community empowerment. People are involved in the design and monitoring of the projects, and even children are involved. Community dialogues with all involved people in the community (men, women, youth, children, people with disabilities, and community leaders) are the pathway to change.

Core interventions:

• Establishing and strengthening Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and overarching Cluster Level Associations (CLAs);
• Development and implementation of (methods for) community dialogues about (sensitive) topics, such as sexual and gender-based violence, girls rights, child protection, positive parenting and conflict resolution;
• Organizing sports and play activities as a tool for peacebuilding and empowerment;
• Disability inclusion through training, awareness-raising and linkages with government schemes and service providers.