How We Work

Alliance Centered

What does it mean to be locally led?

Being locally led means that the people who live in a community are the ones who make the choices, lead the work, and control the money for projects that affect their own lives. Instead of outside groups or foreign experts telling a neighborhood or country what to do, local people drive the plan from start to finish. Local control of money means the local people raise and spend their own money.

HCW is driving change to reach a goal of local ownership, which requires transfer of knowledge on not just how to spend money wisely, but how to raise it, save it, account for it, and replenish it. Accountability and trust is internal, rather than a matter for alliance. When outside funders are providing money for programs and projects, the status of local ownership is incomplete.

The process of empowering locally led programs often involves leadership development and capacity-building as a first step. Building trusted relationships and establishing a power balance, with clear roles and responsibilities is crucial to success in a capacity-building project intended to develop local leadership and ownership.

When local ownership is in a development stage, control of decisions, money, and knowledge is shared until full transfer is possible. Breaches in trust, failure to meet goals, inability to secure skilled workers, and staff turnover can result in delayed transfer of ownership. After full trust in operational capacity and integrity is established, the process of transfer gains speed.

Core Ideas

• Power and Control: Local people make the final decisions instead of outside groups.
• Direct Money: Funds go straight to local workers and groups instead of passing through many middlemen.
• Local Knowledge: Plans use the skills, culture, and history that people already have on the ground.

Why It Matters

• Better Results: Solutions fit what the community actually needs.
• Less Waste: More money reaches the actual project instead of paying for outside agencies.
• Long-Term Success: Communities learn how to fix their own problems for the future.

Systems Oriented

We’ve learned that nothing exists outside of a system, and failing to step far enough back to understand the factors surrounding the situation immediately in front of us is the same as putting gas in a car that lacks an engine and expecting it to run.

Example: Addressing the problems associated with one child protection program will improve the status of the children served by that program. But…If they move out of the service area, the child will not be helped. If the program reaches capacity, no others will be helped. If the staff goes on strike, becomes ill, abuses the kid, finds better jobs, have a fire or flood, or some other catastrophic event disrupts service, the child will not be helped. If there aren’t resources to get a program through a rough time, then no children will be helped.

If, however, a system is in place for child protection programs to share resources, communicate on program gaps, exchange knowledge, collaborate on cases, and cross-train each other, the likelihood of a single crisis preventing a child from getting help is significantly reduced.

These aren’t made up examples.

Strengthening and Empowering Families and Communities to Help Children

Our mission directive is to strengthen and empower families. Family strengthening is the most effective intervention to improve the care and wellbeing of children. HCW aligns with local leaders who apply that philosophy to their work.

When every child-oriented mission is conducted with the notion of strengthening the helpers (parents, social workers, family members, teachers, doctors, nurses, policy-makers) we will be maximizing the time, efforts, talent, and money of people feeding that mission.