Engaging and empowering community members and strengthening the effectiveness utilization of community’s skills and assets and drawing on the resources, abilities, and insights of local residents to find the ways of overcoming their own challenges.
In a fast-paced environment that many humanitarian workers operate in, there is often a lack of time to really dive into the latest discussions amongst practitioners, academics, policymakers, and civil society. Development research can help bridge the provider-beneficiary gap and ensure practitioners stay on top of current and ongoing debates on development and humanitarian services.
The Atem Foundation Research and Local Sustainability Development Program (AF-RSDP) works with researchers, university students, and local communities to support citizens in defining, developing, and directing their own future by promoting research for community ownership, and sustainability-focused development initiatives. Evidence-based academic approaches can contribute to a better understanding of culture and communities, but also of the experience of others in the same or a similar context. Practice-relevant academic research can play a crucial role during analysis, mapping exercises and the identification of key actors and potential partners.
By inviting community participation and collaborating with academic institutions to conduct research in vital, future-focused issues, we support local citizens and groups in building a sustainable and flourishing tomorrow for all. Research is invaluable for our Foundation to promote innovation in the humanitarian space. Our research program is aimed at helping practitioners do their work more efficiently and effectively. Insights gained from our program inform policies, frameworks, and approaches of practitioners – but also of policymakers and civil society actors. The aim is to identify more efficient, innovative, and effective ways of conducting humanitarian work.
The AF-RSDP provides multiple micro-grants for community research projects and works with university students, local organizations, and stakeholders to leverage research results into applicable policy designed to enhance current and future sustainability developments. Our research program helps to build trust, manage relationships with key stakeholders and show that we take transparency and accountability seriously – particularly in our programming to ensure we meet the needs of the most vulnerable.
Rooted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a pact adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, the AF-RSDP provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity, now and into the future. At the heart of our work are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an urgent call for all countries to work together in global partnership to end poverty while improving health, boosting sustainability, reducing inequality, and spurring economic growth.
