Our Approach

SUPPORTING COMMUNITY-LED CHANGE

what is sclc?

Supporting Community-Led Change, or SCLC, is our approach to working with local groups in Haiti that we have refined over the course of more than twenty years.

SCLC borrows elements from Community-Led Development, Supporting Community-Led Response, Trust Based Philanthropy, and Konbit, and incorporates feedback from our local partners as well as research done by the Share Trust, ALNAP, and others.

What makes SCLC different?

CONVENTIONAL INTERNATIONAL AID...

Restricts support to specific sectors (education, health, water, etc).

Designs and directly implements projects from the international level.

Structures relationships around projects and short-term contracts.

Treats humanitarian aid, long-term development, and peacebuilding (the “Triple Nexus”) as separate.

Takes large percentages for overhead.

Restricts grants so they can only be spent on direct project expenses.

Chases grant funding.

Supporting Community-Led Change (SCLC)...

Supports what communities want for themselves, across all sectors.

Invests in and strengthens local leaders, organizations, and networks, who design and implement projects alongside communities themselves.

Builds long-term partnerships with Haitian organizations that share our values.

Operates at the center of the Triple Nexus, shifting as communities’ needs change.

Takes no overhead on grants that pass through us to Haitian partner organizations.

Provides unrestricted funds so that resources go toward the most important priorities.

Does not accept funding that would compromise our core principles, instead forming relationships with funders that share our values and those of our partners.

How do we choose our partners?

We use the model on the left, based on our research published July of 2026, to illustrate how local collective action strengthens community ownership, social cohesion, and trust. These three elements form a positive feedback loop:

The more a community has ownership over the work, the more trust they build within themselves and with each other, and therefore the more social cohesion there is.
The more social cohesion there is, the more trust there is among community members, the better able people are able to show up and contribute to initiatives, therefore strengthening community ownership.

A community that is socially cohesive can resolve their own conflicts; a community with agency and ownership can respond quickly and effectively when disaster strikes. As time goes on, and these elements are further reinforced through this process, they form the foundation for a community that is resilient to shocks, peaceful, and economically prosperous.

As is recommended in our “Framework for Funders,” we use this model to find new partners and create new relationships.

OUR APPROACH