How we work

SNV does not offer funding, but specialises in supporting the resourcefulness of development actors. We develop local capacities, improve performance and services, strengthen governance systems, help create access for excluded groups and make markets work for the poor. We believe the following four factors are essential for lasting and sustainable development:

Inclusive development: For development to be sustainable, we must actively listen to and engage with people living in poverty to find solutions that improve their lives.

Systemic change: To achieve inclusive and sustainable development at scale entails going beyond providing services to people living in poverty. It requires creating an enabling environment that addresses the systemic constraints underlying poverty and inequality.

Local ownership: Effective and sustainable solutions can only be achieved if local actors shape and drive their own agendas. Our role has evolved toward a supportive function in which we facilitate the resourcefulness of local service providers rather than lead development processes on behalf of the poor.

Contextualised solutions: Effective and lasting solutions have to be tailored to the specific needs and experiences of the people we work with.

We coordinate with  different stakeholders (i.e. local governments, enterprises, local capacity builders, community-based organisations, farmer organisations, research institutions) to provide tested solutions to the people we work with.

Our work is centred on issues related to food, renewable energy and water. These three areas pose some of the most urgent development challenges for people living in poverty. In Uganda we work in the following sectors:

• Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
• Renewable energy
• Agriculture: value chain development in oilseed, horticulture, honey and dairy