Investing in Demand-Driven, Community-Led Development

As the African Development Foundation celebrates 20 years as a provider of innovative investments in Africa’s future and best practices for African development, it is fitting that the first issue of The ADF Approach highlights the Foundation’s program in the Republic of Guinea.

The United States Congress created ADF as an independent agency with a unique mission to promote the direct participation of African community-based organizations and small enterprises in the social and economic development of their countries. ADF is the only U.S. government agency that works solely at the community level in Africa to promote growth and opportunity for the continent’s poorest peoples. The Foundation’s commitment to helping African communities invest in themselves is reflected in what thousands of Guineans have achieved over the past two decades with the Foundation’s support.

The following articles highlight ADF’s Guinea program and best practices that ADF has developed in partnership with community-based organizations and enterprises across Guinea, including:

Helping Rural Communities Invest in Themselves through Participatory Development

The Foundation has helped the Government of Guinea and the World Bank design a nationwide rural capacity building program based on participatory development methods. The Village Communities Support Program (PACV in French) recognizes that Guinea’s rural communities are eager to invest their own time and resources in projects that address real needs, and the PACV has achieved tremendous results with minimal resources. Each project is conceived, designed, and implemented by local beneficiaries through community forums that engage all local stakeholders - regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity - in a process of open debate and decision-making. Through this dynamic application of participatory development best practices, rural villages across Guinea have built dozens of new schools, clinics, wells, and bridges with surprising speed and quality. Local contributions of labor and material have also produced considerable cost savings and have allowed ADF to spread the impact of its funding to more communities.

Supporting Small Business Development and Job Growth in Guinea’s Poorest Communities

ADF has invested in more than 30 projects across Guinea over the past two decades, most in the area of small- and medium-enterprise (SME) development. By providing dynamic small entrepreneurs with access to capital, technology, financial management training, and technical assistance, the Foundation has helped dozens of small ventures become profitable formal-sector businesses that operate with transparent management, auditable account books, and detailed business plans. These businesses stimulate economic growth across low-income communities by generating good jobs and strong incomes for their employees and their employees’ families.

Creating a Dynamic Resource for Guinea’s Social and Economic Development

ADF has invested in Guinea’s long-term development by helping Guinean development experts launch a grassroots development organization, the Center for Development Support (CAD). CAD is led by citizens of Guinea who are highly trained development experts, possess decades of on-the-ground field experience, and know their country, its cultures, and its languages. Most importantly, they are committed to Guinea’s future and to building Guinea’s capacity to generate local responses to local challenges and opportunities.