Raise The Village is a company.
Key people at Raise The Village.
Raise The Village was founded by Cameron MacMillan (Co-Founder).
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).
Key people at Raise The Village.
