Change Fund Principles in Action: Context Sensitive + Flexible: The Story of SAHED, Colombia
Join us for the next few weeks on a series of impact stories from NEAR’s Flagship Solution: The Change Fund, highlighting five of the Fund's Principles: Swift, Trust-based, Locally led, Context Sensitive + Flexible, Accountable + Always Learning. Our third story is about our member, Fundación para el Saneamiento, Ambiente, Emprendimiento y Desarrollo Sostenible (SAHED), in Colombia, exemplifying the Change Fund being Context Sensitive + Flexible as principles in practice.
In territories of Colombia’s Bajo Atrato, people in municipalities like Carmen del Darién, Istmina, and Murindó live at a crossroads between natural riches and complex structural violence.
Armed groups such as the ELN and the Clan del Golfo dispute this territory and create serious impacts: violence, forced displacements and family confinements.
The presence of armed groups limits mobility and rights. Protections for the environment are weak. And daily life is coloured by uncertainty and fear.
For local organisation Fundación para Saneamiento, Ambiente, Higiene Emprendimiento y Desarrollo Sostenible, SAHED, these are only some of the considerations that influence its work.
SAHED also factors in cultural diversity, local knowledge, and the unique dynamics of the territories in its humanitarian responses.
When floods swept through the area, accessing clean water and protecting children from dengue and diarrhea – amid the conflict – became urgent.
SAHED knew that working with these communities required cultural sensitivity, flexibility, and a deep territorial understanding.
“Our goal is not to intervene from outside, but to build with communities, with respect, with dialogue, and with a deep ethical commitment,” SAHED Director Jorge Cardenas De La Ossa says.
So the first step was to listen. Through community meetings, house visits, and social mapping exercises, the SAHED team learned about what was lacking, like aqueducts and health services. And they also learned about the community’s dreams and priorities.
That intentional listening laid the groundwork for SAHED to serve more than 8,900 community members with water, sanitation and hygiene resources.
From the moment SAHED received the Change Fund grant, Jorge recognised the fund’s understanding of the Colombian context. That allowed SAHED to support communities in the ways it had learned.
“We had room to adapt the timeline and strategically redirect resources in response to changes in the security situation,” Jorge says.
When working in areas where illegal armed groups are active, SAHED adjusted routes and schedules to guarantee the team’s safety and continue serving the community. The unrestricted Change Fund grant didn’t complicate those decisions with additional requirements.
In communities braving insecurity, that flexibility makes support possible.
The Change Fund supports local leaders like Jorge, strengthens local organisations like SAHED, and ensures resources for crisis-affected communities.