From Zambia to Malawi, a new model of grantmaking is repositioning communities not as recipients of aid, but as authors of development priorities in a model that challenges who defines problems, solutions, and legitimacy in philanthropy.
When the Nyankanga Community Foundation in Zambia secured a grant of K300,000 (US$17,000) from Plan International Zambia in 2024, it did not emerge from a conventional call for proposals. There were no predefined donor priorities to match, no competitive alignment with external frameworks and no…
