Spark Microgrants marked 15 years in 2025, reaching over 1.2 million people across 1,375 villages and supporting communities to lead their own development. In 2025, we expanded to 270 new villages, supported 378 community-designed projects, and saw strong participation, leadership, and locally driven impact. As governments like Rwanda adopt this approach at national scale, Spark is helping unlock a future where communities are not recipients of development, but the drivers of it. Read our 2025 annual report here.

We are fifteen years into moving grant funds to low-capital villages through direct transfers and ensuring women and men, young and old, have decision-making power over local initiatives.

In April, Spark’s M&E team published the 2024 Annual Impact Report, showcasing how the FCAP leads to livelihood and civic gains across geographies. After just two years of Spark’s FCAP, average household asset values have grown by 249%, and household savings increased by 160%.

Amidst significant changes in global development financing from Western nations, Spark hosted a roundtable with sector leaders in Oxford, UK, to discuss how to shape the sector moving forward. The conversation highlighted new research results on the effectiveness of development and models that yield long-term versus short-term impacts.