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Key people at Raise The Village.
Raise The Village was founded by Cameron MacMillan (Co-Founder).
Raising The Village is a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating ultra-poverty in last-mile communities across Sub-Saharan Africa through a comprehensive, village-wide development model. It implements a structured 24-month program designed for high impact at low cost, focusing on moving communities from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods by addressing their most pressing needs and fostering long-term economic independence. The organization emphasizes a results-oriented approach, demonstrating significant income increases and returns on investment in the communities it serves.
The organization was founded in 2005 by Shawn Cheung, who also serves as its CEO. Cheung's insight stemmed from a long-standing commitment to improving livelihoods, recognizing that effective poverty alleviation requires an integrated, community-centric program rather than fragmented short-term interventions. This led to the development of a holistic model that empowers communities to build resilience and achieve lasting change.
Raising The Village serves remote farming communities, partnering directly with them to implement tailored programs that address local challenges. Its mission is to build stable, self-sufficient communities capable of sustaining their progress beyond the initial intervention. The organization envisions a future where systemic stability and economic opportunities are ingrained within these villages, fostering generational change and ending cycles of poverty.
Key people at Raise The Village.
Raising the Village (RTV) is a Canadian not-for-profit organization founded to alleviate ultra-poverty in remote rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, primarily Uganda and Rwanda, through a 24-month, multi-dimensional program model.[1][2][4] It partners with last-mile farming villages earning as little as $0.75 per day per household, delivering interventions in agriculture, income diversification, water/sanitation/health (WASH), and community leadership to boost incomes above $2 per day while building sustainability via local ownership.[2][3][4] With $4 million in annual revenue and around 200 employees, RTV emphasizes cost-effectiveness at ~$30 per person reached—far below comparable programs—by leveraging village-scale economies, data-driven adjustments, and community co-design.[1][2]
Founded in 2007 by Shawn Cheung (current CEO), Raising the Village began as a Canadian initiative targeting the most impoverished Sub-Saharan villages, evolving from early collaborations to a structured model by 2012 focused on Uganda's last-mile communities.[1][5] The idea stemmed from convictions that ultra-poverty represents the world's worst inequality and can be ended through straightforward, collaborative solutions involving local governments, experts, and donors.[5] Pivotal moments include shifting to data-informed programs, discontinuing low-ROI elements like livestock distribution in 2019, and expanding high-impact areas like climate-resilient seeds, while growing to partner across Rwanda and aiming to reach 1 million people annually.[2][4][5]
Raising the Village rides the trend of data-informed, scalable development tech in global aid, integrating real-time analytics and mobile tracking to optimize poverty alleviation amid climate challenges and rural isolation in Sub-Saharan Africa.[2][3][4] Timing aligns with surging donor interest in evidence-based interventions post-COVID, where ultra-poverty persists in 80% of cases across 14 countries, amplified by market forces like affordable agritech (climate-resilient seeds) and fintech (savings groups).[4] It influences the ecosystem by modeling replicable programs that blend community input with tech-enabled monitoring, inspiring NGOs and funders to prioritize ultra-poor "last-mile" areas over fragmented aid.[2][5]
RTV is poised to scale toward its 1 million annual reach goal through proven scalability, tech integrations, and partnerships, potentially expanding to more fragile states as climate pressures intensify agricultural needs.[4] Trends like AI-driven impact analytics and blended finance will sharpen its efficiency, evolving its influence from village transformer to sector leader in ending ultra-poverty this generation—proving holistic, low-cost models can sustainably lift communities from $0.75/day despair.[2][4][5]
Raise The Village was founded by Cameron MacMillan (Co-Founder).
