About Yadra | Field-Rooted Practice

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Why We Exist

We started Yadra because we’ve seen a stubborn truth firsthand: the most powerful solutions for communities are usually designed by the communities themselves. Too often, these homegrown systems operate on the edge. They are under-resourced, isolated, or vulnerable to being co-opted or erased.

Our roots are in the Global South, and our practice is built to stand alongside the frontline collectives, cooperatives, and quiet architects who are already doing the work. We’re here to help fortify what they’ve built, protect it from threats, and help it connect and grow without losing its soul. That is why we are systems-focused, looking to work with a broad spectrum of partners.

In many ways, this work is our way of giving back. We’re simply offering the tools, support, and leverage we’ve gathered over the years back to the ecosystems that need it most. Our deepest hope is to become redundant. We dream of a future where our role is no longer necessary because community-built infrastructures are so powerful, connected, and resilient that they thrive on their own terms. We’re here to work ourselves out of a job.

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Our Commitments

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We’ve learned that real change isn’t about short-term projects. It’s about the long-term health of community systems. This belief shapes everything we do:

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We’re in it for the long haul. We focus on supporting infrastructures that can endure for generations, rather than chasing short-term outputs to meet donor agendas.
We believe safety often happens out of the spotlight. We prioritize shielding grassroots work from capture and co-optation over chasing public recognition.
We show up to listen and learn. Our approach is less like consulting and more like accompaniment. We exist to listen, exchange, brainstorm and move at a rhythm that respects the community’s pace.
We help good work grow without losing itself. We believe in helping successful models connect and replicate in a way that protects their original purpose and integrity.

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How We Work

We don’t believe in prescriptive packages. Every partnership is unique, shaped by the wisdom and work that already exists on the ground. We start by understanding what you’ve built, and then we see how our hands can help. Our support typically flows into four areas:

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Stabilize: Helping to steady your systems so they can withstand political, economic, and environmental pressure.
Design: Sitting beside you to build tools and structures that meet real needs, ensuring we’re building with you, never for you.
Extend: Helping you forge meaningful connections with other systems, so you can share knowledge and power without compromise.

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You can learn more about our Instruments of Practice here.

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Who We Stand With

We work with:

Frontline collectives and social movements
Community-owned cooperatives and federations
Local NGOs who have earned deep trust on the ground
Foundations and funders who are ready to cede power and rethink their role
Institutions that are genuinely willing to unlearn old, extractive ways of working

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We cannot work with:

Donors who arrive with rigid, pre-written frameworks
Organizations seeking “extractive research” to justify pre-determined outcomes
Partners who are unwilling to let the community’s expertise lead the way

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Join the Mission

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As hopeful as we are about the future, and as clear as the mission is for us, we know we cannot go at it alone. Yadra is meant to be an invitation to a different kind of partnerships to build a different world.

If your community collective, cooperative, or built system is looking for a partner to help fortify, protect, or connect your work… you’ve found us.

If you are a funder or institution ready to move beyond talk and truly align your resources with the logic of the field… we would be grateful for the conversation.

A just future is being built now, from the ground up. It’s happening in communities across the Global South and in marginalized communities in the Global North. ‍

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We're here to help protect that work, to help it grow, and to stand with those building it. We hope you’ll join us.

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If you're still here, our founder wants to add something:

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Hi there!

Thanks for making it all the way here.

Most things have already been explained, but I wanted to add a personal note.

For most of my working life, I have worked in the shadows, rarely attaching my name to projects, whether they were mine or others'. This one is different: Yadra is highly personal.

Yadra was born from a question I asked myself every day: why aren’t things done differently? I have worked within the worlds of public policy research and economic development, and I had a front-row seat to the answer. I saw the dysfunction firsthand and understood why current systems are failing people: the same design flaws, the same lack of accountability, and the same lip service at play, time and time again.

Despite our best efforts at my previous organization, Know Policy, to redirect projects toward fairer and more sustainable results, we were consistently forced to operate within a system we did not believe in. Our goal was to make governments accountable and to push for rights-based policy work across the Global South. We tried our best and remained as truthful to our mission as possible.

Then, a series of world events made it clear: it was time to go all in and adopt a more radical approach. I decided I could no longer be part of systems that continue to fail individuals.

Yadra was born from this desire for radical change, from stern hope, and from a yearning for a community working toward the same goals.I learned a great deal along the way. Yadra is my way of finally stepping out of the shadows to share that knowledge and join the tide of change in the most effective way I know.

Thank you for being here & I hope you we cross paths on this journey.
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Salma