Lightup Impact: Strengthening grassroots leadership across East Africa

Since its founding in 2021, Lightup Impact has steadily carved out a critical space in East Africa’s development landscape.

Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and with operational offices in Berlin, Eldoret, and Nairobi, the non-profit works across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda to support early-stage grassroots organisations.

Its approach is clear and consistent: build local capacity, support community-driven leadership, and connect under-resourced changemakers to tools and networks that enhance their impact.

Rather than acting as a direct implementer of projects, Lightup Impact exists to amplify others.

It identifies organisations—many led by women and youth—that are doing essential work on the ground but often lack access to technical skills, governance systems, or visibility.

The organisation steps in to strengthen these foundations, believing that local actors are best positioned to respond to regional challenges.

From Vision to Action: Why Lightup Impact Exists

The organisation was born out of a recognition that many grassroots groups operate with limited support in complex environments.

They tackle issues like menstrual health, mental health, education access, and youth empowerment with deep community knowledge but often without the capacity to scale, attract funding, or comply with donor requirements.

Lightup Impact responds by equipping these organisations with practical training and governance support, enabling them to grow sustainably and be recognised as credible development actors in their own right.

Today, with a team of fewer than ten staff, Lightup Impact coordinates a network of over 100 grassroots organisations.

Its East African offices handle regional engagement and programme delivery, while its European hubs focus on strategic partnerships, communications, and resource mobilisation.

Building Organisational Muscle: Capacity Support and Convening

A central part of Lightup Impact’s work lies in building the capacity of its member organisations.

Through both in-person and virtual sessions, the organisation offers training in areas that are often overlooked but essential for long-term sustainability.

These include:

• Risk management and safeguarding
• Data protection and compliance (including GDPR)
• Monitoring and evaluation systems
• Communications and storytelling for visibility and fundraising

The support is tailored to the specific contexts of early-stage grassroots groups, helping them not only meet basic compliance standards but also build systems that attract new partnerships and funding.

Lightup Impact also creates platforms for learning and collaboration. Its flagship event, Lightup Impact Days, is held annually in Nairobi.

The 2023 edition, co-hosted with the East Africa Philanthropy Network (EAPN), focused on the theme #ShiftThePower: Ignite Change.

The event brought together over 100 participants from across the region to discuss issues such as youth policymaking, gender equity, data use for impact, and community-led monitoring.

In these spaces, local leaders are placed at the centre of the conversation, not as beneficiaries, but as the primary drivers of development.

Sessions are led by grassroots organisations themselves, with Lightup Impact acting as a facilitator rather than a gatekeeper.

Immersive Learning: The Founder Tour

To deepen engagement beyond formal training and events, Lightup Impact launched the Founder Tour in 2022.

This 10-day immersive experience allows Lightup Impact staff to visit grassroots founders in their home counties—such as Nairobi, Eldoret, Kisumu, and Homa Bay—and learn from the realities of their work.

From witnessing menstrual health product manufacturing to attending peer-led mental health workshops, the tour has provided Lightup Impact with real-time insight into the challenges and ingenuity of its network.

These field visits inform future programming and build stronger relationships rooted in trust and shared goals.

Collaboration as a Catalyst: Key Partnerships

Lightup Impact’s work is strengthened by partnerships that open doors for its members. It works closely with:

• East Africa Philanthropy Network (EAPN), a co-host for the annual Lightup Impact Days
• TechSoup, which provides affordable technology tools for nonprofits
• Kenya Community Development Foundation, which supports civil society capacity development in Kenya

These alliances help Lightup Impact provide its members with access to digital tools, learning opportunities, and potential funding avenues—resources that many grassroots organisations struggle to reach on their own.

Advancing Global Goals Through Local Action

While rooted in local realities, Lightup Impact’s work is globally relevant.

Its network of organisations contributes meaningfully to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by addressing urgent needs through community-driven approaches. The organisation’s focus aligns especially with:

• SDG 1: No Poverty
• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 5: Gender Equality
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

By investing in governance, leadership, and operational capacity, Lightup Impact helps grassroots organisations accelerate progress on these goals in their communities.

A Network Grounded in Experience

Lightup Impact’s network of over 100 member organisations includes a diverse range of grassroots actors.

They include women’s cooperatives producing affordable menstrual health kits to youth-led mentorship programmes, mental health advocacy groups, and community-based health educators.

Many of these organisations are in early growth stages, led by founders with lived experience of the challenges they aim to solve.

What they often lack in resources, they make up for in relevance and innovation.

Lightup Impact helps turn this potential into lasting impact by linking them to peers, tools, and audiences they might not otherwise reach.

A Quiet But Strategic Role

Crucially, Lightup Impact does not seek the spotlight. It exists to help others rise. It does not fund projects or run community programmes of its own. Instead, it focuses on the invisible scaffolding: good governance, strong systems, meaningful connections.

Its work enables organisations to meet compliance requirements, tell their stories credibly, and operate with transparency—foundations that are essential for long-term viability.

It fosters peer communities that offer moral and practical support. And by centring local leadership, it models an alternative to top-down development practices.

Looking Ahead

In just a few years, Lightup Impact has grown from a small idea into a dynamic network builder across four countries.

Its events continue to attract new voices, and its members are increasingly recognised as credible contributors to local development ecosystems.

The organisation plans to deepen its current model by expanding training opportunities, strengthening monitoring systems, and continuing to build bridges between grassroots leaders and the global development space.

The Bigger Goal

Lightup Impact represents a different kind of power in the development world—one that doesn’t come from large budgets or high visibility but from enabling others to succeed on their terms.

By focusing on capacity, connection, and community leadership, it helps grassroots organisations across East Africa not only survive but thrive.

As these local leaders continue to respond to health, education, and gender-related challenges in their backyards, Lightup Impact ensures they’re no longer doing it alone or unseen.