RISE: Solutions to Extreme Poverty in Rural Villages
Welcome to RISE: Solutions to Extreme Poverty in Rural Villages. I'm Wade Griffith from Shanta Village Partners, and I'm joined by my co-host Jaipreet Kaur from All We Can. This Podcast is a space for practitioners, funders, change makers, and anyone committed to eliminating extreme poverty to share their passion and knowledge on long-term approaches to rural development that center on community leadership. Each episode features practical strategies, lessons learned, and case studies from initiatives that are re-balancing power, prioritizing local knowledge, and building systems that last. At RISE, we're committed to advancing community-led development and rethinking the role of international actors through a decolonial lens. Special thanks to Fort Lewis College's radio station, KDUR, for their recording expertise and live airing of RISE.
RISE: Solutions to Extreme Poverty in Rural Villages
Episode 41
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Shifting Power, Not Just Moving It
In this episode, Wade and Jai sit down with Charles Kojo Van Dyke of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) to unpack what locally-led development really requires beyond the buzzwords.
Charles draws a sharp distinction between moving power and changing power, illustrated through WACSI's "reverse call for proposals" model, where a Zambian community foundation put an international NGO through its own due diligence process. It's a candid, energizing conversation about what genuine partnership looks like when communities are treated as co-investors rather than beneficiaries.
