Our Strategy

Background

Based on decades of personal experience, Rebuild Africa’s Adaptive Community Development Process allows Africa’s poorest communities to build a secure future after severe conflict and trauma, providing significant, long-term change.

The Problem

A lifetime of personal experience and vocational experience with NGOs led Bill to the following conclusions. Although many worthwhile projects are executed, the results are often short-lived. The main reasons are:

1. A lack of local involvement and leadership in development, use of finances and governance of projects.
2. A quick-fix and short-term development mindset.
3. A piecemeal approach to development.

For local people the result is often cynicism and hopelessness.

In Post-Conflict arenas this problem is exacerbated still further, as a return to violence is quickly viewed as a more expedient alternative. Therefore it is important, not only to instill grass-roots commitment and participation in a long-term vision, but also to structure projects so that results are quickly visible and long-lasting.

The Solution

Rebuild Africa’s approach is:

Adaptive – Tailored to individual communities, not systems; this order can change as necessary.
Community – Prompts locals to question the ‘status quo’, to collaborate, and to use community assets.
Development – Integrates all components necessary for long-term transition to sustainable prosperity.
Dynamic – this process can be replicated as a learning model which can always adopt new ideas and technologies.

Families enter an integrated process that includes house ownership, food security and wealth production. Youth education will develop professionals for the future. Reconciliation work is also important as the relationship breakdown – a legacy of the civil war – greatly affects production. Leadership training is vital to expansion and provision of secure infrastructure, health and governance. Lastly, Rebuild Africa seeks to strengthen existing organizations such as churches, to increase their positive influence in the surrounding communities.