Strengthening Capacities, Sharing Knowledge: EMpower’s Approach to Amplifying Local Impact

At EMpower, we often say that it’s local organisations that power real change. Over my years here, I’ve seen just how true that is—how the wisdom, passion, and deep community roots of our partners drive transformation in places that are often overlooked or underserved. These organisations are not only delivering critical services to young people, but they’re also holding space for hope, resilience, and leadership. However, being at the forefront of social change—especially in low-resource settings—can be exhausting and unsustainable without the right support.

That’s why, for us, strengthening local organisations—in addition to supporting youth programming—is central to who we are.

Support That Goes Beyond Grants

We don’t just provide grants. Our support is holistic and grounded in trust. This year, every one of our over 150 grantee partners across 15 countries is receiving tailored organisational strengthening support as an integral part of their grants. That can look very different for each organisation, depending on the context, from building financial management systems to supporting new approaches to monitoring and evaluation or designing staff wellbeing strategies. Our regional programme officers walk alongside partners in this process, offering technical support that’s responsive, not prescriptive.

And the work goes even deeper. We’ve launched nine intensive capacity-strengthening initiatives this year, each led by external experts and designed around topics that our partners themselves identified as priorities. These initiatives—ranging from youth mental health to communications to safeguarding—are reaching 50 organisations across all five regions.

What’s powerful is that these aren’t top-down trainings; they’re interactive, peer-driven, and rooted in real-world challenges and solutions.

Learning Together, Growing Together

However, strengthening individual organisations is only one piece of the puzzle.

One of the most energising aspects of our work is the space we create for partners to connect, learn, and grow together. Something transformative happens when practitioners from diverse geographies and contexts realise they’re grappling with similar challenges. That’s the spirit behind our 26 cross-partner learning initiatives. This year alone, they’ve brought together 494 people—including 217 young people—across 161 sessions.

These convenings serve as vital spaces for our partners to collaborate, share best practices, and collectively address common challenges. By breaking down silos and encouraging open dialogue, we aim to cultivate a more connected and resilient sector where knowledge flows freely, and innovation is amplified. The active participation of young people in these spaces is particularly crucial, ensuring their voices and perspectives shape the future of development.

Youth at the Centre of Change

Young people aren’t just participating—they’re shaping the agenda. In every region where we work, our Youth Fellowship model helps ensure that programming is aligned with young people’s realities. Their leadership also guides where we focus our strengthening efforts.

What We're Learning

So, what are we learning from all this?

Globally, the themes our partners are most drawn to—Girls and Gender (31%), Meaningful Youth Engagement (28%), and Mental Health (25%)—are a clear signal. These aren’t abstract issues; they’re urgent, intersectional, and deeply tied to the lived experiences of the youth our partners support. At the same time, across all 35 of our capacity-strengthening efforts, we see that core operational areas like Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (21%), Financial Sustainability (21%), and Communications (21%) remain vital. Our partners are telling us: we want to do meaningful work, and we want to do it sustainably.

Reimagining Sustainability

There’s no single formula. But there is a thread running through all this: a belief in growth grounded in community, led by those closest to the issues, and nurtured through long-term commitment.

When we strengthen organisations from within and invest in both the “what” and the “how”, we don’t just help organisations grow, we help shift the narrative of what development can look like: collaborative, context-rooted, youth-informed, and community-powered.

That’s the ecosystem we’re working to build. And it’s one we’re proud to be a part of.