The Co-Ground Story
What started with one village became a global community.
For almost 10 years, Co-Ground has supported grassroots community-led programs in Vanuatu and the Philippines, and more recently, First Nations young people in Australia.
Our work includes disaster relief and recovery, water access, education, local infrastructure, health and sanitation, women's empowerment, and child rights.
Co-Ground began in 2015 with a group of volunteers responding to the devastating effects of Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.
What started as a simple idea, to raise funds in support of a local community, quickly grew into a powerful, community-led initiative.
The project brought together two vastly different communities: the Co-Ground Australia community, who rallied to fundraise and volunteer their time, and the people of South West Epi, who embraced the opportunity to lead and shape the projects their community urgently needed.
At the direction of the South West Epi community, the first projects focused on much-needed repairs and upgrades to the local school. These were soon followed by the construction of a new classroom and library - doubling the size of the school!
The impact was immediate. The entire community came together to bring the vision to life. Student engagement soared, inspired by a new sense of pride in their vibrant pink and purple school buildings. Parents and grandparents expressed deep gratitude, knowing that the new, solid structures wouldn’t need to be rebuilt year after year, as had been the case in the past, freeing up time and energy for family and work.
The Co-Ground community saw firsthand the power of their collective action and the importance of placing local communities at the centre of the change they wanted to create.
The community was inspired, and so the impact continued.
Year after year, project after project, Co-Ground continued to grow, raising funds and awareness through social enterprise in Australia, while expanding our reach to the Philippines and the Northern Territory.
Our work is driven by the need to create community-led solutions (unlike traditional international aid). We are led by these values - placing complete trust in the communities we support to lead the way, championing self-determination, and backing local leaders and changemakers.
We believe in community-led change, building sustainable solutions for future generations.
The work we support is sustainable, impactful, and deeply rooted in the strengths of the people and places we exist to serve.
