THE SITUATION
A private foundation had been investing in Uganda for over ten years with a strong and genuine institutional commitment. However, the portfolio was dominated by global North-led NGOs, which, over time, led to the foundation missing out on remarkable local changemakers from the very communities it aimed to serve. These local heroes often did not fit the funding narrative. To address this, the foundation needed to adopt a new approach to its portfolio and find effective ways to communicate this shift clearly both internally and externally.
THE WORK
We redesigned the Uganda country strategy from the ground up, redefining their eligibility criteria to include social enterprises, private-sector players, and community-led changemakers who had previously been outside the scope. Organisations that did not fit the traditional NGO model required a different kind of due diligence and a different kind of relationship. We addressed both.
In parallel, we designed a communications approach that inverted the usual philanthropy model: partners at the centre, the foundation in the background. Every story led with the people doing the work, not the funding institution.
THE RESULT
The Uganda portfolio became the top-performing country in the foundation’s global communications programme. At the foundation’s annual convening, the distinctiveness of the Uganda cohort, with its diverse approaches, sectors, and leadership, was evident to everyone in the room. The foundation now points to Uganda as a model for contextual, partner-led grantmaking in practice.