The Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1995 to fight global poverty at a grassroots level. We partner with local organizations throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia that understand and represent the needs of their communities. Through providing capacity building, funding, and human resources to our partners, we collaboratively implement solutions that improve social, environmental, educational, and economic conditions. Our approach stems from the understanding that development is only possible when communities are empowered to become agents of their own sustainable growth. 

Our model incorporates three unique programs that develop underserved, international communities in a collaborative and sustainable manner.

1. Sustainable Development of Community-Based Organizations

Our professional field staff, roving consultants, and program participants facilitate information sharing while providing on-site technical training and capacity building to over 200 community-based, FSD partner organizations throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Our partner organizations address issues related to microfinance/microenterprise, women's empowerment, health, youth and education, environment, appropriate technology, community development, and human rights. 

2.  Grantmaking to Projects and Initiatives Lead by Our Partner Organizations

FSD delivers funds from donors and institutions directly to the projects and initiatives implemented by our partner organizations, site teams, interns, and volunteers. Ranging in size and scope, projects are only funded when communities actively participate in the planning, execution, and maintenance of the work. We are proud to say that 100 percent of all funds given to FSD are allocated toward project work in the field.

3. Development Training for Interns and Volunteers in the Field

FSD provides comprehensive training programs for interns and volunteers seeking hands-on development experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Program participants come from countless professions and more than 300 universities worldwide to provide human resources to our partner organizations. Our internship programs supply the building blocks for establishing international development careers, strengthining graduate school applications, fullfilling practicum requirements, and cultivating professional relationships.

These three program areas work in-tandem to strengthen our partner organizations and their communities, while providing interns and volunteers with the skills necessary to effectively engage development. FSD works in nine program locations in six countries:

Argentina          Bolivia          India          Kenya          Nicaragua          Uganda   


If you would like to read more about the experiences of our interns in the field, check out the FSD Blog.

From the Founder:

I started the Foundation for Sustainable Development in 1995 while working on my doctorate in economics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  After numerous volunteering stints in Latin America, I realized that countless community leaders and grassroots organizations were doing incredible work, but were limited in terms of human and financial resources. These were people with full time jobs who didn’t go home at the end of the day.  Rather, they voluntarily worked around the clock to help their communities find a way out of poverty. 

It was painful and frustrating to me to see the limited impact of all the hard work these small organizations accomplished simply because they didn’t have the resources for the supplies and people they needed to carry out their work most effectively.  After seeing the same story over and over, I committed myself to starting FSD.

From the beginning, I did my homework. By observing other organizational models in action, I quickly realized what I did not want FSD to become: 

--A donor organization that funds projects it does not oversee (I saw so much money wasted on inefficient or corrupt projects that were insufficiently planned or monitored).

--An organization that was reliant on grants that could force me to shift my development vision – a phenomenon known all to well as mission creep.

--A volunteer organization that simply connected culturally inexperienced, untrained “Westerners” with local organizations that knew little about hosting foreigners (in the long-term, this route is sometimes beneficial to the volunteer, but often fails to develop sustainable organizations or empowered communities).

--A well-intentioned international organization that patronizingly imposes utopian development solutions on communities who have little participation or ownership in the projects. 

I wanted FSD to be a development organization, first and foremost, that empowers underserved communities to voice their needs and participate in the implementation of locally-managed solutions.  I worked to create a feedback loop to ensure the flow of communication and resources between community leaders, their grassroots organizations, interns and volunteers, donors, and the FSD staff – made up of local community leaders and trained practitioners from Western nations.  Central to the vision would be a binding adherence to the truth that development solutions are only sustainable when they come from an empowered community base.

In 1996, after cultivating a sustainable organizational model and development philosophy, I established our first work site in Nicaragua.  Five interns worked with local organizations that summer, establishing FSD as a positive community presence and setting the precedent for years to come.

Over these last 12 years, FSD has steadily grown to include six different countries and over 200 community organizations.  Our community impact continues to exponentially rise due to the strength of our staff and our commitment to sustainable principles.  

However, none of the growth would be possible without the time and resources given to FSD by people who care about global poverty and sustainable development.  I hope my story inspires you to get involved in any capacity to bring greater equality and opportunity to people throughout the world.

With Gratitude,


Alicia Robb
FSD Founder

Throughout history, grassroots action took form to represent the voice and needs of marginalized peoples.  Examples are numerous – the labour movement that delivered workers rights; the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King; the peace movement that effectively ended the Vietnam War, and the Indian independence movement lead by Mohandas Ghandi that shaped the cultural, religious, and political unity of a diverse nation. 

These examples represent a powerful transformation of collective and individual perspective.  At the root of this transformation is empowerment – the belief that political, social, economic, and spiritual change is achievable.  The strategy with each of the grassroots movements listed above was to work from the “bottom-up” to support marginalized peoples’ belief in collective change, while collaboratively finding sustainable solutions.  Empowered individuals form empowered communities that are capable of growth and change.  However, without an empowered and engaged community base, government and international (or “top-down”) interventions do not succeed.   

The Foundation for Sustainable Development follows the path taken by these successful movements.  We work directly at the community level to support the empowerment and capacity of grassroots organizations and the individuals they serve.  Rather than supporting government and international entities, FSD partners with locally managed, locally founded community-based organizations (CBOs) who understand and represent the voice of their communities.  Through building solid relationships and working side-by-side with local community leadership, FSD produces collaborative solutions that offer the greatest chance for sustainable results.  

To optimize community representation and cultural insight, our programs are directed by seasoned development leaders from the local communities.  For several years, each of our Program Directors has been ingrained in grassroots action for the betterment of their communities.  They successfully built a network of relationships with local leaders, organizations, and knowledge about best practices.  These invaluable resources are formed into a cooperative of CBOs that partner with FSD to sustainably improve their communities.  In all, FSD works with over 200 CBO’s to supply capacity, training, funding, and human resources.   

Supporting each of our Program Directors is 1-2 experienced Program Coordinators who typically come from the United States and bring a wealth of diverse international development experience to our field teams.   They join a network of local and regional grassroots consultants that provide capacity building for our partner organizations, while helping facilitate our intern and volunteer programs.   

In addition to these efforts, our in-country staffs provide an infrastructure on the ground that efficiently distributes funding, oversees project work, and monitors/evaluates our partner organizations’ adherence to sustainable principles.  This infrastructure provides a trusted, cost-effective watchdog on the ground that delivers capacity to CBOs, while ensuring their active participation and ownership of development efforts.   

Essential to the success of our development model are the volunteers and interns that choose the Foundation for Sustainable Development as their instrument for global impact.  Interns and volunteers team with FSD to receive development skills training, implement creative project work, and gain direct access to a substantial network of relationships and professional opportunities.  They choose FSD because our development programs provide an unrivaled, comprehensive experience in international, grassroots development.  

Working together, our in-country staffs, volunteers, interns, donors, and CBO partners reach out to hundreds of marginalized communities throughout the world to deliver resources and sustainable solutions where they are most needed.