Empowerment Program

Community Leadership Training

Empower Yourself to Lead Change in Your Community

Cultivate equips grassroots leaders with the practical training, tools, and support to strengthen their organizations, navigate the international development sector, and lead lasting change in their communities.

Whether you’re launching a nonprofit or community-based organization, leading a local initiative, or strengthening an existing organization, our Empowerment Training Program gives you the practical training, tools, and support to increase your impact.

As a local leader, you understand your community’s challenges and you are often closest to the solutions. But turning those solutions into sustainable action can be difficult when navigating the funding requirements, organizational expectations, and systems of the international development sector.

Our program equips you to navigate these challenges while staying rooted in your community’s priorities. Through practical training and real-world tools, you’ll strengthen your leadership, build effective initiatives, communicate your vision with confidence, and engage partners and funders without compromising your community’s ownership of the work — because lasting change is strongest when it is led by the community itself.

We use a community-supported pricing model.

Join now for $100, or $50 for our community membership. We also offer scholarships and sponsorships.

Here’s what you’ll receive when you enroll:

11 Foundational Courses
Learn practical approaches to fundraising, organizational leadership, community development, program design, evaluation, and more. See a full description of all courses.
Group Coaching & Personalized Support
Participate in monthly group coaching and open office hours to receive practical guidance to help you apply what you’re learning, overcome challenges, and grow your organization alongside other community leaders.
A Global Learning Community
Connect with other leaders creating change around the world. Learn from others, share your expertise, and build a global network of leaders who understand the unique challenges and opportunities of community-led development.

You’ll gain practical skills, personalized support, and a global network to help you grow your leadership and expand your community’s impact.

What exactly is the program?

A one-year online training program that combines practical courses, group coaching sessions, tools, and a global community of community leaders working to create change.

✓ Learn at your own pace with flexible online and offline learning options.

✓ Access 11 comprehensive, practical courses designed for grassroots leaders.

✓ Join monthly online group coaching sessions with other community leaders from around the world.

✓ Join in on monthly online open-office hours to ask questions and get extra help.

✓ Earn certificates as you complete each individual course.

✓ Download practical templates, workbooks, and tools to apply your learning.

✓ Study online or use offline, low-bandwidth and low-data learning options.

✓ Enjoy 12 months of access to the full program and learning community.

✓ Become a program alumni if you successfully complete the program. Alumni have the opportunity to continue learning with us for as long as they want!

Why does this training exist?

Around the world, communities are working every day to address their communities' challenges. The people closest to these challenges are also closest to the solutions. They understand their communities’ history, culture, strengths, and aspirations better than anyone else.

Yet many community leaders face systemic barriers that make it difficult to access funding, build sustainable organizations, and have their voices heard. The international development sector often operates with expectations, language, and systems that can be difficult to navigate, particularly for leaders who have had limited access to formal training or international networks.

Cultivate exists to change that.

Our Empowerment Training equips local leaders with the knowledge, practical skills, and confidence to navigate these systems while remaining rooted in their communities’ priorities. Participants strengthen their leadership, design effective community-led initiatives, build sustainable organizations, and engage with partners and funders on more equitable footing — creating lasting change from within their communities.

Is this program for me?

This program is designed for grassroots leaders, nonprofit founders, community organizers, and changemakers who are already working to address challenges and create positive change in their communities.

It is a good fit for people who want to strengthen their leadership, build more sustainable organizations, develop effective community-led initiatives, and better navigate the systems that influence funding and partnerships.

Learn more about whether this training is right for you.

What topics will I study?

The program includes practical training in leadership, community development, program design, organizational sustainability, and social change.

Through online courses featuring videos, reading materials, worksheets, templates, and practical tools, along with monthly group coaching sessions, you will learn how to:

✓ Strengthen your leadership skills.

✓ Design effective community-led programs.

✓ Build sustainable organizations.

✓ Develop fundraising strategies.

✓ Communicate your mission through marketing and storytelling.

✓ Evaluate your programs and measure impact.

✓ Apply Asset-Based, Community-Led Development practices.

✓ Strengthen financial management skills.

✓ Improve digital skills for organizational leadership.

✓ Manage your time and priorities effectively.

✓ Develop culturally adaptive approaches to community work.

New courses currently in development include:

✓ Organizational Governance

✓ Community Healing & Resilience

What will I gain by enrolling?

By the end of this training, you will have the knowledge, skills, and tools to lead more effective, sustainable, and community-driven initiatives.

You will learn how to:

✓ Understand the root causes of the challenges your community faces, so you can develop long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes.

✓ Lead with a community-driven approach that builds participation, ownership, and trust.

✓ Design programs based on your community’s strengths, assets, and priorities.

✓ Strengthen your organization’s financial sustainability through effective fundraising strategies and stronger relationships with funders and partners.

✓ Measure and communicate your impact to diverse audiences, building trust and creating new opportunities for collaboration.

Who will train me?

You will learn directly from Elaine Tymchak Yates, Cultivate’s Founder and Director.

Elaine has led Cultivate for over 10 years and brings more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit and charitable work. Her experience includes fundraising, communications, program management, evaluation, cross-cultural collaboration, and supporting community-led initiatives around the world.

Elaine holds a Master’s degree in International Development and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociocultural Studies. She is also completing advanced training in Trauma Healing and Resilience to deepen Cultivate’s approach to supporting leaders and communities.

Throughout the program, you will have opportunities to learn from and engage with Elaine through monthly group coaching sessions, email and WhatsApp support, monthly open office hours, and optional one-on-one coaching sessions.

What certification will I receive?

For each course you complete, you will earn a Course Completion Recognition in that course topic, such as a Course Completion Recognition in Fundraising.

After completing the full training program, you can take the next step by applying for the Applied Learning Certificate in Social Impact Leadership & Organizational Management.

To apply for the certificate, you will develop and submit practical organizational tools that draw on the concepts, strategies, and skills you learn throughout the courses and explore through group coaching:

✓ Organizational Plan (similar to a business plan)

✓ Fundraising Campaign Plan

✓ Grant Application Template

✓ Program or Organizational Evaluation Plan

✓ Organizational Website (if you do not already have one) or a Website Improvement Plan

Once you submit your materials, Cultivate will personally review your work and provide individualized feedback. This review is designed to help you strengthen your work and demonstrate how you have applied the training to your own organization or community.

The Applied Learning Certificate recognizes not simply that you completed the courses, but that you put your learning into practice and developed practical tools you can use in your ongoing work.

What makes Cultivate different?

Cultivate’s Empowerment Training is designed specifically for grassroots and community leaders who are creating change in communities facing systemic barriers.

Many leadership and nonprofit trainings are developed for organizations in the Global North and require leaders in other contexts to adapt the lessons to their own realities. Cultivate takes a different approach.

Our training is built around the experiences, challenges, and opportunities faced by community leaders around the world—particularly those working in communities where poverty, injustice, inequality, and limited access to resources have created barriers to lasting change.

We believe the people closest to a challenge are also closest to the solutions. Our role is to provide leaders with the knowledge, practical tools, and support they need to strengthen their own efforts, build sustainable organizations, and advance locally-led solutions.

You will learn skills that are relevant to your context while connecting with a global community of leaders who are working toward social change.

Want to hear what other community leaders have to say? Read their stories and experiences with Cultivate. Click here to learn more.

Enroll Now

What You'll Learn

Is This Right For You?

Program Costs

Additional Coaching, Certifications & Consulting Services

One-on-One Personalized Coaching

Participants in the Empowerment Training Program can request personalized coaching sessions for additional guidance and support.

One-on-one coaching can help you work through course activities, receive feedback on your organizational plans and projects, ask questions, and apply what you are learning to your own community work.

Additional Cost:

Community Members: $25/hr
Standard Members: $50/hr
Scholarship recipients may receive complimentary coaching sessions during their year in the program based on need.

Applied Learning Certificate in Social Impact Leadership & Organizational Management

Completing the 11 courses is the foundation of the Empowerment Training Program. But Cultivate believes that training is most valuable when you can put what you learn into practice.

Participants who want to take this additional step can apply for the Applied Learning Certificate in Social Impact Leadership & Organizational Management.

This is more than a certificate of course completion. It is an opportunity to take the concepts, strategies, and tools you have learned throughout the program and apply them to your own organization or community work — with individualized review and feedback from Cultivate.

What do I need to do?

To qualify for the certificate, you will:

✓ Complete all 11 required courses.

✓ Complete course evaluations and reflections.

✓ Create practical organizational tools.
As you move through the program, you will develop a set of practical tools that you can use in your own organization:

Organizational Plan
Fundraising Campaign Plan
Grant Application Template
Program or Organizational Evaluation Plan
Organizational Website or Website Improvement Plan

What happens after I complete the requirements?

This is where the Applied Learning Certificate differs from your Course Completion Recognition.

Your work will be personally reviewed by Cultivate. We will spend time examining your submitted materials, considering how effectively you have applied the concepts and tools from the training, and providing individualized feedback to help you strengthen your work.

You will receive feedback that is specific to your organization, your community, and the work you are developing — not simply a standard checklist or automated assessment.

The certificate is awarded when your submitted work demonstrates meaningful application of the training to your organizational or community work.

What makes this different from Course Completion Recognition?

Course Completion Recognition confirms that you completed an individual course.

The Applied Learning Certificate recognizes that you completed the full training program and demonstrated how you have applied the learning to your real-world work.

The Applied Learning process gives you an opportunity to receive several hours of focused review and individualized feedback from Cultivate while developing practical tools that you can continue using after the training program ends.

Additional Cost

Community Members: $100
Standard Members: $250

Beyond Training: Organizational Strengthening Support

Don't Do This Work Alone

Join a global community of leaders who are creating lasting change in their own communities. Build your capacity and make a positive impact.

Enroll Now

Not Ready to Enroll?

Continue Your Organization’s Growth Beyond Training

The Empowerment Training Program helps leaders build the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to strengthen their organizations. For organizations seeking deeper support, Cultivate also offers consulting services focused on localization, dependency reduction, and equitable partnerships.

Explore Organizational Strengthening Services

Get Updates

We equip people for locally-led social change.