Community Philanthropy Toolkit being launched at the 10th East Africa Philanthropy Conference (EAPC)./PHOTO; Courtesy
A new Community Philanthropy Toolkit has been launched at the 10th East Africa Philanthropy Conference (EAPC), offering practical guidance for practitioners, nonprofits, funders, and philanthropy networks working to strengthen community giving and advance locally led development.
Developed by Lusoma Advisory in partnership with the East Africa Philanthropy Network (EAPN) and the Firelight Foundation, the toolkit aims to shift how philanthropy and development are practiced.
The launch comes at a time when development actors across the region are increasingly turning toward local resource mobilization and community-led solutions, as international aid continues to decline.
Speaking at the conference, Evans Okinyi, the Chief Executive Officer of EAPN, highlighted the strain many organizations are facing while also calling for a more adaptive and collaborative approach within the sector.
“With the withdrawal of USAID, with the capital that is shrinking, a lot of institutions are struggling to even pay rent for their offices. But the work that they are doing is very noble,” he said.
He cautioned that the sector can no longer afford slow responses to funding disruptions, especially when communities on the ground continue to feel the effects in real time.
“We have for a very long time been reactive as a sector to issues. USAID withdraws, we take time to adjust, but the people that we are serving don’t have that time to transition. Their needs get worse day by day,” he added.
The toolkit draws heavily on long-standing traditions of collective giving across East Africa, including Harambee in Kenya, Iddir in Ethiopia, Umoja in Tanzania, and Bulungi Bwansi in Uganda.
These systems have for generations helped communities pool resources, support families in need, educate children, respond to crises, and rebuild after disasters.
Yet, as the toolkit notes, they remain underrecognized in mainstream philanthropy and development conversations.
Rather than presenting a rigid framework, it is designed as a flexible practitioner’s guide.
It introduces the ACT Framework (Assets, Capacity, and Trust) and is informed by insights from 48 practitioners across Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.
It also includes practical tools such as asset-mapping guides, governance scorecards, organizational readiness checklists, and country-specific legal guidance.
Lusoma Advisory describes it as “a starter pack, not a rulebook,” emphasizing that it should be adapted to local realities rather than applied rigidly.
Alongside the toolkit, EAPN also announced plans for a regional philanthropy e-hub aimed at connecting practitioners, funders, and community initiatives.
The platform is intended to strengthen collaboration, improve coordination, and reduce duplication across the sector.
As Evans noted, the goal is to make it easier for actors working in similar spaces to find each other and work together more effectively.
“Those who want to work in collaborations and in a manner that eliminates the silo mentality, this platform is going to enable you to do that,” he said.
Taken together, the toolkit and the e-hub reflect a growing push across East Africa to re-center community philanthropy as a practical and sustainable approach to development at a time when resources are tightening, and the pressure for locally driven solutions continues to grow.
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