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Lead

Community Systems and Leadership

Change that lasts is change people own. Families, teachers and local leaders shaping, running and sustaining their own solutions.

Too much development work is designed far away and ends when the funding does. We believe communities should be trusted as partners and leaders in their own development, not recipients of someone else’s plan.

Lead

Community Systems and Leadership

Change that lasts is change people own. Families, teachers and local leaders shaping, running and sustaining their own solutions.

Too much development work is designed far away and ends when the funding does. We believe communities should be trusted as partners and leaders in their own development, not recipients of someone else’s plan.

Communities at work

Every month, women, youth, parents and staff come together for community service days, improving school grounds and shared spaces.

In late 2025, 620 community members took part. The Butanuka campus is a shared community space, not an outside project.

Communities at work

Every month, women, youth, parents and staff come together for community service days, improving school grounds and shared spaces.

In late 2025, 620 community members took part. The Butanuka campus is a shared community space, not an outside project.

Leaders from within

Our community health workers, Light Mothers and facilitators all come from the communities they serve. Savings groups elect their own leaders and set their own rules. Our home-based early learning shelter is run with the village it serves.

Working with local government and public schools

We work with commune and provincial authorities, public schools and health facilities, strengthening the systems families already rely on. In 2025, the Administrator of Mpanda Municipality made his first official visit to Dreaming for Change. By 2030, we aim to support 20 public schools through co-governance, bringing stronger leadership, accountability and safeguarding to classrooms far beyond our own.

Working with local government and public schools

We work with commune and provincial authorities, public schools and health facilities, strengthening the systems families already rely on. In 2025, the Administrator of Mpanda Municipality made his first official visit to Dreaming for Change. By 2030, we aim to support 20 public schools through co-governance, bringing stronger leadership, accountability and safeguarding to classrooms far beyond our own.

Sharing what works

Approaches that work shouldn’t stay in one place. Our campus now hosts learning visits from peer organisations, including Faith in Action Africa and Jars of Love Community. In 2026, Imago Dei Fund held its first peer-learning gathering for its Burundian partners at our campus in Butanuka.

Where this leads

Our aim is a future in which former scholarship students become professionals and mentors, parents who once received support pay for their own children’s opportunities, and community-led early learning sites continue under local ownership. That’s what success looks like: communities that need us less over time.

Where this leads

Our aim is a future in which former scholarship students become professionals and mentors, parents who once received support pay for their own children’s opportunities, and community-led early learning sites continue under local ownership. That’s what success looks like: communities that need us less over time.