January 30, 2025
Across the international development sector, there is growing recognition that sustainable change begins with community leadership. Real, meaningful impact that lasts happens when solutions are shaped by the people who know their needs, barriers, and aspirations best.
At Kinvia, this belief has always been at the core of our work. Since 1986, Kinvia has worked alongside communities to fight childhood hunger, improve food security, and tackle systemic barriers to holistic well-being. As we enter the first year of our 2024–2034 Strategic Directions, named the Path to Kinvia in honour of our trusted relationships and the ways in which we will journey together, we are strengthening our commitment to putting communities at the forefront of change.
What does it mean to be community-led?
Photo: Atikameg (Whitefish First Nation)
A community-led approach is central to our mission. For us, it means “ensuring that communities actively participate and lead in the identification, planning, and execution of programs that shape their lives. By ceding decision-making power to communities, we create space for them to define their own development based on their unique rights, needs, values, and aspirations."
We arrived at this definition through 20 months of consultations with community partners in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, and Indigenous Peoples in Canada. These conversations and internal reflections were foundational in shaping our strategic plan, ensuring our organizational strategy builds on our longstanding commitment to understanding and adapting to the unique contexts and priorities of the communities we work with.
“By deepening our approach to place communities at the centre of all we do, we are transforming our practices to dismantle colonial systems, establish policies focused on equity and inclusion, combat racism and oppression, and work towards reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.”
Our commitment to being community-led is about shifting power, ensuring communities reclaim leadership and decision-making authority, while supporting self-determination.
While a community-led approach has always been part of our philosophy, our strategic plan represents a deliberate shift toward tackling the systemic barriers communities face in achieving sustainable food systems.
“With communities leading initiatives based on their knowledge and experience, success is bound to follow, including increased food security and decreased inequities.”
- Elizabeth Dyke, Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee, Board of Directors
Community-led in action: Programming for intersectional climate justice
Photo: Ghana
For years, we have supported communities in adapting to the effects of climate change. Our climate adaptation work has helped communities manage the unpredictable weather patterns and disruptions that threaten their food security and livelihoods. However, we recognize that addressing climate change requires a more holistic approach.
True, lasting transformation comes when we work at the intersection of climate change, sustainable food systems, and social justice. This takes us beyond supporting communities to mitigate climate impacts and ensuring they have the tools, resources, and authority to lead their own solutions. Embracing climate justice requires organizations like us to rethink how we approach funding, program development, and learning, ensuring these processes are community-led, equitable, and rooted in dismantling systemic barriers.
Photo: Ethiopia
A key part of this shift is incorporating new community planning tools, like Kinvia’s climate vulnerability assessment. This community consultation tool helps identify unique needs and challenges in communities, taking an intersectional approach that considers how different identities, such as sex and age, affect climate vulnerability.
Piloted in Ethiopia and Ghana, the tool has already provided valuable insights into how climate change impacts livelihoods, agricultural practices, and food security based on social equity drivers. The results of this tool will be essential to guide our programming, allowing us to focus on solutions that are inclusive, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of disinvested populations while placing community knowledge at the centre.
“We know that the climate crisis is a deeply unfair one, and it will have devastating consequences on the most vulnerable in communities. As an organization focused on the development of sustainable food systems, planning for the devastating consequences of climate change on food systems is imperative to achieving our strategic goals.”
Photo: Uganda
By placing communities at the centre, we are not only addressing immediate challenges but also strengthening their capacity for long-term leadership in the face of climate change. Our ultimate goal is to develop this tool into a fully community-led resource, one that communities can use themselves to develop their own solutions for emerging climate vulnerabilities.
By integrating climate justice into every aspect of our work, we are committed to ensuring that our programming is sustainable, equitable, resilient, and leaves no one behind.
Vision for the future
Our journey is guided by the belief that communities hold the key to their progress. By working together, in solidarity with communities, we can impact all areas of nourishment at all stages of life, including income generation, education, racial justice, and climate impacts. Together, we can create a future where every child, family, and community has the opportunity to thrive on their own terms.
This year marks both the 35th anniversary of International Development Week and the first year of our 10-year strategic directions - a pivotal moment to reflect on our past while looking ahead with renewed purpose.
As we continue to strengthen our community-led approach, we invite you to join us on the Path to Kinvia. Together, we can build a more inclusive, sustainable, and food-secure future for all.
Join us on the Path to Kinvia
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