How We Create Thriving Futures:

A Deeper Look into Our Programs and Methodology

Celebrating the launch of Legacy Planning with the Ngilai community in Northern Kenya | Roshni Lodhia/Legado

By working with Legado, people define and create legacies for both themselves and their communities. When they design and implement solutions of their choosing, they create sustainable outcomes we call Thriving Futures.There are three steps to creating a Thriving Future.

1. Amplify the Voices of Every Community Member through Legacy Planning

At Legado, we believe that sustainable change is only possible when Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP&LC) play a leadership role in articulating the priorities for themselves, their families and their communities—and in bringing these priorities to life.

We begin with legacy. Our first step is to convene local women and men, elders and youth, from every station in society to begin envisioning their legacies: for themselves, their community, and their landscapes.

Our work involves and amplifies all community voices and perspectives, particularly those of women and youth.

Learning and reflection session on the maternity shelter priority in Ngilai, Northern Kenya | Legado

2. Community Members Identify Their Priorities

With their legacies in hand, community members identify the priorities that are important for themselves and their communities and use these to create a Legacy Plan. Each priority also outlines specific actions that will help them fulfill each priority and realize their Thriving Future.

Communities take a 360^o approach to assess and plan their priorities.

This is done at two levels:

All dimensions of well-being (including environmental health, education, human health, governance, culture, and livelihoods) are first defined by the community. Then each dimension is considered by itself and as it intersects with all other dimensions.

Salomon Pereira teaching Machiguenga traditional hunting practices to children in Monte Carmelo, Peru | Legado

For example, education can mean both classroom-based education and the passing of traditional knowledge as well as how cultural health practices are championed, how communities learn traditional and non traditional livelihoods, and so on.

Each dimension is also considered in the context of each priority developed by the communities.

A volunteer from the Mucunha community helps build a traditional stove to burn the blocks that will be used to construct a new health center | Legado

For example, a community might establish a priority centered on health that includes building a maternal health center. They would then consider how fulfilling this priority might affect other dimensions of well-being—for environmental health, this might mean determining the ideal location of the center to avoid deforestation and minimize the impact to the environment.

3. Community Members Fulfill Their Legacies and Create Thriving Futures

Community members then lead across their range of interconnected priorities by taking collective actions outlined in their Legacy Plans. In addition, they use their plans to leverage funds from the government and funders, ensuring these resources are used on their terms and in alignment with their community priorities.

When the community comes together to realize their self-determined legacies, the result is a Thriving Future.

A Thriving Future Timeline

3-6 Months

Activation of Community Voices

I have shared my vision for tomorrow

6-12 Months

Legacy Plan Development

We are working together to put our plans into action

1-5 Years

Legacy Plan Implementation and Resource Mobilization

We are making our plans a reality by taking collective action and unlocking critical support from the government and funders on our terms

When communities tap into local knowledge to create a Legacy Plan, when women are given a leadership seat at the table, and when people act collectively to realize their vision, they create sustainable outcomes in thriving landscapes. They create their Thriving Futures.