Philosophy: Our philosophy is that the best way to assist people is to teach them to fish rather than to give them a fish each day. In other words, we believe that it is better to empower grassroots communities to sustainably fend for themselves than to create a dependency on handouts. We believe that the best way to do this is by working with them through a participatory process to elicit their views and vision concerning the most critical needs and development priorities of their communities, businesses, or social enterprises. This approach generates commitment or “buy-in” to the processes leading to the achievement of the agreed upon objectives of the grassroots groups and fosters cooperation from them.

Staffing Strengths and Competencies: ÆDE comprises a core multi-disciplinary project team with strong grassroots backgrounds and connections, a high sensitivity to the cultural, social and poverty dynamics of target grassroots groups, extensive experience and knowledge of the local economic, social and political environment, a successful experience in participatory approaches to the development and implementation of donor-funded community development and income generating projects, plus the financing and monitoring of commercial and investment banking activities in Liberia, West and Central Africa.