Locally-led development: an honest explainer.
As large donors step back, the conversation about funding civil society directly — through local organizations rather than international intermediaries — has grown louder. This page sets out the topic plainly, with context from published sources. Our own analysis is not finished yet.
A note of honesty
This is an explainer of the wider landscape, not a claim about Muasi Telema's own funding or results. Where we cite a figure, it describes the reality we work in, and we name the source. A fuller, signed analysis from us is in build — we will publish it when it is ready and properly grounded.
What "locally-led" means
"Locally-led development" describes a shift in how aid is delivered: directing funding, decisions and design to organizations rooted in the communities they serve, rather than channelling everything through international intermediaries. For women's-rights groups in the DRC, it raises a practical question — can locally-rooted organizations be trusted with, and resourced for, the work directly?
Why it matters here
The need is real and documented. The World Justice Project estimated that roughly 5 billion people worldwide have unmet justice needs, with women hardest hit (World Justice Project, 2019). In the DRC specifically, only about 10% of women earn a regular salary and around 24% hold a bank account (ICR Facility, 2023) — a fragility that makes stable, locally-anchored support especially important.
The opportunity, and the risk
The opportunity is plain: organizations led by Congolese women, working in the languages families actually speak, can reach people that distant programs cannot. The risk is just as plain — sudden funding shifts can leave communities without follow-up, and over-reliance on a single source is fragile. Honest reporting and diversified, modest funding matter more than fast growth.
Where we stand
We are a small, registered association of Congolese women jurists. We are not making claims about grants we have not received. What we can say is how we are built to handle funding responsibly — see our governance & transparency page — and that a fuller, sourced analysis of this topic from us is in build.
Sources cited as context
- World Justice Project, Measuring the Justice Gap (2019) — ~5 billion people with unmet justice needs.
- ICR Facility (2023) — DRC: ~10% of women salaried, ~24% with a bank account.