Community-Led, Inclusive, Data-Driven Development.
A principles-driven approach, co-created by Salanga, that systematically positions communities to define, measure, and lead their own development journey.
Communities strengthen accountability to their own aspirations and collectively defined indicators of success, while institutions become more responsive and transparent.
By embedding iterative reflection and adaptation cycles at community level, Colmeal enables continuous course correction — strengthening resilience in volatile environments.
When communities own the agenda and the evidence, motivation and collective action persist after external funding ends, increasing the likelihood of sustained outcomes.
ADRA Canada and its implementing partners, funded by Global Affairs Canada are among the early adopters of the Colmeal Approach. This case study highlights some of the early results and lessons learned.
Most participatory approaches invite communities into a project’s process.
In Colmeal communities lead their own governance, change and learning processes, while Colmeal helps them to better integrate into what partners already do.
Evidence ownership. Communities generate, interpret, and use their own data — not as a reporting requirement, but as an asset for their own decision-making and advocacy.
Inclusion as accuracy. Marginalised voices — women, youth, those furthest from power — are included because they hold insights no other actor can generate. In the Philippines, youth identified the normalisation of violence that adult officials had not recognised.
Accountability on community terms. Communities decide which institutions to engage — not the other way around. This shifts engagement from consultation to accountability.
Working within existing systems. Colmeal integrates into existing structures rather than creating parallel ones. In the Philippines, it was embedded into government planning cycles. In Sri Lanka, it integrated into an existing programme framework.
Self-propagating adoption. When the approach fits, it spreads without project resources. In Kenya, a government institution independently adapted Colmeal and began training staff across multiple locations. In Uganda, parishes self-funded adoption.
Built-in quality safeguards. Organic spread does not mean unmanaged spread. Colmeal includes structured reflection processes and a growing network of Colmeal Hubs — organisations and government bodies supporting adoption in their contexts.
Colmeal and Feminist M&E are complementary approaches that prioritize the perspectives and experiences of community members facing social, economic, and political exclusion. Colmeal involves community members taking ownership over monitoring and evaluation, while Feminist M&E takes a gender-transformative approach to M&E that seeks to address gender inequalities and power imbalances.
Together, these approaches can help ensure that development initiatives are responsive to the needs and priorities of community members whose voices are commonly not heard, including women and girls. By combining these approaches, development initiatives can be more effective, equitable, and sustainable.
We work at the intersection of community-led development, evidence, and systems change — partnering with organizations, funders, and governments to make locally-led approaches practical, scalable, and grounded in evidence.
With implementing partners, Salanga supports organizations to integrate Colmeal into their existing programming — from readiness and project design to capacity sharing, coaching, and ongoing reflection. Our teams engage in capacity sharing, so your team is better equipped to guide communities through their own development process.
With funders and institutional actors, Salanga works with bilateral agencies, foundations, and intermediary funders to embed community-led principles into funding frameworks, program design, and accountability structures. In 2025, Salanga convened a funders dialogue on localization financing.
As methodology steward, Salanga maintains the Colmeal Living Evidence Register — documenting evidence of outcomes, confidence levels, and gaps across contexts. We are building toward an open-resource model supported by a global community of practice, so Colmeal can grow beyond any single organization.
Communities are at the centre of Colmeal. While Salanga works primarily through implementing partners, the methodology exists to serve communities — shaped by their lived experience, priorities, and voice. Colmeal evolves based on a simple question: does it strengthen communities’ ability to lead their own development, generate their own evidence, and engage systems and governments on their own terms?
For me, Colmeal is a new approach to community programming where the community identify their own problems and devise their own solutions. In Colmeal, the communities design indicators, monitor, and evaluate. It’s a great approach that is worth venturing into.
I think Colmeal will work in project communities because of the way it has so far been embraced. Communities are quickly grasping the concepts and volunteering to serve their fellow communities.
I’m grateful for the learning experience I get from participating in the committee. I wish there is always a meeting. I learn and somehow forget my problems in a meaningful way.
Before the first training for the Colmeal committee, my worry is more about how can I participate. What if I can’t answer their question or I will be asked to present in front of many people? How will my co-members react? But when I facilitated, I realized that I can do it and it was not that hard at all.
For me, the success of Colmeal depends on the cooperation of the entire community.
I am overwhelmed with joy to be a member of the [Community Management Committee]. I came with a lot of stress over several issues in my life that I lacked solutions to. However, after the training I feel more empowered with the knowledge on how to address some issues and am ready to transfer the knowledge to my community members when am fully trained. Colmeal has helped us to identify common issues in our community and how to address these challenges.
Colmeal is a true bottom-up development programing aimed at engaging the community to participate in the development of their area with the community being in the forefront. […] Colmeal is more sustainable since the local structure is comprised of all category of people from the different professions including the local leadership. Colmeal will create a lot of impact in the TOGETHER project implementation area because of high level of capacity building that will be given to the different structures with emphasis on mindset change and community encouragement to work for their own development.
Webinar 1: What Is Colmeal?
Webinar 2: Is your organization ready for Colmeal?
