In this episode of RISE, we examine the impact of shifting global funding priorities, including the loss of USAID support, on rural development efforts. Through firsthand experience, this conversation explores how communities and organizations are adapting, and why strengthening local leadership and long-term, community-led solutions is more important than ever in the face of uncertainty.

Wade and Jai sit down with Sudhanshu Shekhar Singh, founder of Humanitarian Aid International, to rethink what development really means. Together they ask: Does true progress require consumption and materialism, or can we define devleopment in more equitable ways?

What if the most powerful development leaders are the villages themselves? This episode highlights Shanta’s Villages Leading Villages pilot and the shared approach Shanta and All We Can take to peer-led development and women’s empowerment.

Meet Janet Nyoni, Program Manager in Zambia with the People's Action Forum, Shanta's partner on the ground, implementing life-changing work through true community-led development. How does she empower the people of these rural areas to believe in creating real change to rise out of extreme poverty?

https://pafzambia.com/

Wade and Jai welcome Masija, from Uganda to talk about her work.....

Who's developing who? Wade and Jai discuss what constitutes successful community-led development.

Jai and Wade introduce guest speaker, Tom Menjor, Country Representative in Sierra Leone. What does genuine partnership look like? Let's listen.

https://www.allwecan.org.uk/team_member/tom-menjor/

Wade and Jai delve into mental health in the rural areas where both Shanta and All We Can operate, with limited access to help and support for mental health needs. Wade shares an update on a recent project that implemented a robust water/solar installation in the Siyowi "campus" and explains how the Shanta model works as a long-term community-led development solution. All We Can is preparing to unveil its new 5-year organizational strategy, which will further enable the organization to charge ahead with its updated sustainable development efforts.