Feature Friday: SAWA Global

June 5, 2009 in feature friday | Comments

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This week, I’m really excited to feature SAWA Global, because I’m convinced their work is extremely important and yet not recognized enough.

I strongly believe that we have to empower grassroots leaders and allow them to tell their stories. Most of the biggest names of organizations, nonprofits and social entrepreneurs we hear of are Western-based: Amnesty International, Acumen Fund and Jacqueline Novogratz, the Save Darfur Coalition - to name a few. But although many Western-based organizations and people are doing great work, the truth is they also have the internet access and marketing skills to get the word out there about their work. But for every Western entrepreneur, there are hundreds of innovators in developing countries that are working hard to cause grassroots social change — but they are not being recognized. Though they may be some of the most bright, passionate, and hardworking change agents out there, many of these people just don’t have the connections and network that we in the Western world do when it comes to marketing themselves. This saddens me.

This is where SAWA Global comes in. Sawa connects local heroes to the world, quite simply:

Sawa empowers unsung grassroots leaders (Sawa Heroes) in the world’s poorest countries that have found innovative solutions to global challenges by documenting their projects with media tools and connecting them to a global community (Sawa Mentors).

SAWA’s local heroes have focused on critical social issues like poverty, neglected children and youth, public health, and the environment. In order to bring attention to the ways in which these heroes are transforming their communities, SAWA Global recruits and trains local videographers in the world’s 50 poorest countries. SAWA Video Journalists then identify local heroes and document these projects and initiatives via video - which are then profiled on the organization’s website. The SAWA Mentor program then allows anyone who is interested to work with the SAWA Hero, learn from their success and share their own skills and ideas to help the project succeed - thus connecting the local heroes with a truly global community.

So while you’re enjoying a relaxing weekend, spend a few minutes watching some of the amazing videos SAWA Global has created, and learn about the great work being done by grassroots entrepreneurs in the developing world. Here’s a great video to start off with:


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  • From the video, SAWA Global looks great! This reminds me about a discussion on Social Edge I read about a month ago: how social entrepreneurship is so widely talked about, yet all of us discussing it seem to be from the U.S. or the U.K. even though there are tons of other social entrepreneurs globally. Thank you for sharing the work of SAWA Global with all of us! I think that video as a medium to share the work of others is also quite effective; rather than always just reading about it, we can actually see it through the video. I will definitely be checking them out, and bookmarking SAWA Global's website!
  • Yes, I remember that discussion on Social Edge - it's so relevant and I completely agree. It's always the people in the U.S. or U.K. talking about social entrepreneurship or even just non-profits and change in general, while people from developing countries who are doing so much great work are just left out from the discussion because they lack the internet access or the sufficient means to market themselves. It's an unfair balance, for sure. I thought that discussion brought up a bunch of important issues. Thanks for sharing!
  • What a great organization to learn about! Thanks for sharing!
  • Thanks so much - glad you enjoyed it!
  • Ankur
    Hey! This is pretty awesome. I didn't know about this organization, but I do think that unfortunately the voices -- and debates -- about foreign aid, development, poverty, all occur primarily among those who are in positions of immense privilege, and rarely from the communities that are actually being discussed. Organizations like SAWA seem like they can help really move the discussion where it needs to be -- in the hands of those actually living in the communities they serve.
  • Thank you, I'm so glad you liked it :-) I completely agree with you. I think SAWA is still a relatively small and young organization, but I hope they're able to expand in the near future and provide more videos and channels to showcase the great work these grassroots leaders are doing.
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