Spring Impact

From Community Action to Government Adoption - this is FES scaling story.

In India 🇮🇳, 350 million people depend on community forests, pastures, and water bodies - known as the Commons -for their livelihoods.

The Foundation For Ecological Security (FES) developed a powerful model to restore and protect the Commons by securing community land rights and enabling sustainable land use. The approach worked, but scaling it wasn’t straightforward.

To scale its impact, 𝗙𝗘𝗦 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲, embedding Commons governance into government and partner systems. At we supported FES to make this transition.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲?

That’s the challenge YLabs brought to us.

Their flagship programme, CyberRwanda, had already proven its value by giving young Rwandans 🇷🇼 access to accurate, youth-friendly health information. The next step was bigger:

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵-𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?

Together, we co-created a realistic and ambitious roadmap to scale.

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 - 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲.

After two years working alongside organisations in the field, we wanted to understand what truly stands in the way of impact at scale, and how organisations are breaking through those barriers.

The result is our new report, 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙎𝘼 𝙖𝙩 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙚: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨, developed with support from Oak Foundation.

This first-of-its-kind study fills a critical gap, showing how 17 organisations across Europe are reframing the narrative, building public and political will, and making scale work in the real world. Reaching more children, embedding prevention into public systems, and sustaining impact over time.

It offers practical, real-world insights, lessons, and case studies for funders, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to move prevention from isolated projects to systemic change.

Above all, the report shows that scaling prevention is not only necessary - it’s possible, and, lasting impact is within reach.

👉 Get the full report - link in bio.