Kilifi county
How Maono Space Is Building Stronger Communities from the Ground Up
Discover how investing in grassroots organisations, leadership, and collaboration is creating resilient communities and a scalable model for locally led development.
145
Community Organisations
Strengthened through Maono
82
Partners Convened
Across civil society and development
47
Counties Targeted
Scaling a proven community model
"Maono Space is exactly what locally led development should look like."
It invests in the people and organisations closest to communities, creating the foundation for sustainable change.
The Challenge
Grassroots organisations are closest to communities but often furthest from the resources, networks, and opportunities needed to create lasting change.
Community-based organisations are often the first to understand local challenges and the best placed to respond to them. Yet many operate in isolation, with limited access to the infrastructure, capacity, funding, and partnerships needed to grow their impact. As a result, locally led solutions struggle to influence broader development agendas or attract sustained investment.
The Open Institute created Maono Space—Maono meaning vision in Kiswahili: to change this. Based in Malindi, Maono Space was built on a simple belief: the organisations closest to communities are not at the bottom of the development system, they are its foundation. By investing in local leadership and creating spaces for collaboration, learning, and innovation, Maono Space is helping grassroots organisations become stronger institutions and more effective partners in driving sustainable development.
Our Approach
We invest in local organisations by strengthening their capacity, connecting them to opportunity, and creating the conditions for sustainable, community-led development.
Maono Space works alongside community-based organisations (CBOs) to build strong, resilient institutions that can lead change from within their communities. Rather than delivering short-term projects, we strengthen organisational foundations through governance support, leadership development, and strategic planning, while creating opportunities for collaboration with government, donors, and civil society.
By providing access to shared resources, learning opportunities, data tools, and strategic networks, Maono Space enables grassroots organisations to amplify their impact, influence public decision-making, and build lasting partnerships. Through ongoing leadership and governance training, community leaders gain the skills, confidence, and institutional capacity to sustain their organisations long after individual projects or funding cycles have ended.
Amplifying Community Voices
We created a professional media space where local voices can inform public dialogue, strengthen accountability, and inspire community-led change.
Recognising that strong democracies depend on informed and independent voices, Maono Space established a fully equipped podcast and content studio in Malindi to give journalists, community leaders, and content creators access to professional production facilities. The studio removes barriers that often limit creators outside major cities, enabling them to produce high-quality civic content that reflects local realities and reaches wider audiences.
More than a creative space, the studio is a platform for public dialogue, civic education, and evidence-based storytelling. It enables meaningful conversations on governance, climate resilience, youth employment, and community development, while strengthening the ability of grassroots organisations to communicate their work and advocate for change.
The studio’s impact has already attracted the support of the Media Council of Kenya, which is partnering with Maono Space to expand the facility and broaden opportunities for local journalists and creators to develop their skills, grow their audiences, and contribute to a stronger, more inclusive media ecosystem.
“The Maono Podcast Studio gave me the opportunity I have been waiting for. With all the resources I needed in one place, I was finally able to start the podcast I’d been dreaming about for so long.”
Joy Ambela, Content Creator
Our Impact
Maono Space demonstrates how investing in local leadership creates lasting community and institutional change.
| Impact Area | Evidence | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Strengthened Community Networks | 80+ CBOs across all 35 wards | A coordinated, county-wide ecosystem of grassroots organisations driving collective action. |
| Built Stronger Institutions | Ongoing leadership and governance training | Community organisations equipped with the governance, financial, and strategic capacity to sustain long-term impact. |
| Enabled Evidence-Based Advocacy | 21,500 businesses mapped | Community-generated evidence informing county economic planning and policy decisions. |
| Improved Public Accountability | County-wide healthcare facility mapping | Evidence prompted county action to address gaps in healthcare service delivery. |
| Amplified Community Voices | Professional podcast and content studio | Local journalists and changemakers producing independent, high-quality civic content that strengthens public dialogue. |
