The Grassroots Playbook

Your field guide to changing the world with nothing but courage, creativity, and a small crew

How to Use This Playbook

    • Choose one experiment to focus on together - resist the temptation to do everything at once

    • Commit to weekly check-ins where you honestly assess what's working and what isn't

    • Rotate roles so everyone learns facilitation, community outreach, and systems thinking

    • Document your journey for others (and for employers watching your LinkedIn)

    • Connect with other crews running different experiments in your area

    • Share resources, contacts, and lessons learned without competing

    • Cross-promote each other's projects - your community mapping helps their food network

    • Invite community members to experience multiple projects, not just yours

    • Wins Circle: Celebrate breakthroughs, connections made, problems solved

    • Learning Lab: Share what you've discovered about your community, what adaptations worked

    • Challenge Workshop: Help each other troubleshoot stuck projects with fresh perspectives

    • Emotions Check: Acknowledge the energy, frustration, excitement, and growth you're all experiencing

    • Start informal: WhatsApp groups, regular meetups, shared Google docs

    • Build rhythm: Weekly team meetings, monthly community gatherings, quarterly big-picture reviews

    • Stay connected: Tag each other on social media, create a local hashtag, build your movement's visibility

    • Think ecosystem: You're not just running projects - you're building a network of young leaders who support each other's growth

Remember: You're not just changing your community - you're developing yourselves into the leaders your generation needs.

Why This Matters: For You, Your Community & Your Future

For You: These projects aren't just volunteering - they're your competitive advantage. You'll develop real-world skills that employers desperately need: project management, cross-cultural communication, systems thinking, and the ability to create solutions from nothing. You'll build a portfolio of actual impact and a network of diverse, motivated peers across Africa and the Middle East.

For Your Community: Instead of waiting for government or NGOs to solve local problems, you become the solution. These projects address real issues - isolation, waste, unemployment, food insecurity - using resources that already exist in your neighbourhood. You're not just helping; you're building sustainable systems that continue long after you've moved on.

For Your Future: Every project teaches you to think like an entrepreneur and leader. You learn to spot opportunities others miss, rally people around a vision, and adapt quickly when plans change. These are the exact capabilities that create successful careers in any field - from tech startups to international development, from corporate leadership to social enterprise.

For Employers: Youth in the Enabling Grassroots Community (EGC) community deliver measurable social change whilst developing a growth and collaborative mindset that transforms teams. They bring systems thinking, cultural intelligence, and proven ability to create impact with limited resources. We encourage you to explore their stories and project outcomes on the EGC LinkedIn channel and recruit these emerging change-makers and leaders for your teams. Feel free to connect with alumni who combine practical skills with purpose-driven leadership.

Selected & Validated Community Projects

The following initiatives have been tested across diverse communities and proven to create lasting impact with minimal resources. Each project is designed to build both individual capabilities and community resilience whilst developing the systems thinking and agile leadership skills essential for today's changemakers.

Bookmark this page, we periodically add new experiments once validated for impact.