Glocal Community Development Studies
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
3rd Cohort final event 2014

Part of a panel on post-MDG Sustainable Development

*Ensuring Sustainable Development through Engaging Local Communities: Lessons from Spark MicroGrants*

Many aid and development NGOs that engage with local communities in developing countries find it difficult to maintain sustainable projects that have a long-term impact on their beneficiaries. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of sufficient participation of the target communities in these often externally-led initiatives. Consequently, there is growing awareness of the importance of involving communities in their own process of development and of the need to create truly participatory development models that engage both international and local agents. In my presentation, I will address this challenge by focusing on the unique development model of Spark MicroGrants, the NGO I interned in, and elaborating on the principles that make this model an important case study to learn from.

Inbar Ziv Shapira completed her BA with honors in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Humanities Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During her studies, she was the Head of the Social Activism Department at the Hebrew University's Students Union, and in 2012, she co-founded and has since directed SifTech, the Jerusalem Entrepreneurship Center, a non-profit organization that operates a start-up accelerator to support entrepreneurs in establishing their ventures in the city.
During her studies in Glocal, she completed an internship in Rwanda with the NGO, Spark MicroGrants, where she worked closely with the local staff and communities, and took part in improving the organization's programs, developing their monitoring and evaluation systems, and building their communications framework. She also initiated a Photo Voice project, in which community members expressed their opinions, desires and needs through photography. She now continues to take part in Spark's operations and serves as one of Spark's advisors, assisting the organization mainly with their programs and communications.

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