Lusoma Advisory Services

Lusoma Advisory Services Lusoma partners with social-impact organizations to design sustainable solutions by putting communities at the heart of decision-making.

We foster equity, co-create lasting impact, and ensure interventions align with real needs.

Temperatures are rising world over, too hot, too cold, too rainy or too dry. Meanwhile in the social sector, the pressur...
05/08/2026

Temperatures are rising world over, too hot, too cold, too rainy or too dry. Meanwhile in the social sector, the pressure to adapt (or not) is getting worse. Its own version of that shift, is building.

Friction that used to sit quietly in the background, is now demanding a response. A push toward more accountability, more ownership, before the change starts happening to us instead of because of us.

We've spent the last few months exploring that pressure. Tracing where the sector is changing, and where it still needs to. Issue 8 of the Lusoma Gazette is dropping this Thursday, 6 August. Sign up on our website (link in bio) to be one of the first to receive it.

Some programmes end. Some quietly disappear. The difference is rarely visible in the closeout report, it shows up six mo...
04/06/2026

Some programmes end. Some quietly disappear. The difference is rarely visible in the closeout report, it shows up six months later, in what's still running and what isn't.

Four conditions. Four questions honest enough to use in your next programme review, when there is still something to be done about the answers.

Tomorrow's piece picks up what happens when the conditions go missing.

Most programs do not fail in implementation. They fail in the room where the target group was first imagined. We wrote a...
19/05/2026

Most programs do not fail in implementation. They fail in the room where the target group was first imagined. We wrote about that room and what tends to happen in it in last week's Field Notes.

🔗Link in bio ☝

Have a look and share your thoughts. What does that room look like for you?

Your MEL system is supposed to help you see clearly. Sometimes, MEL systems drift over time from what they were designe...
15/05/2026

Your MEL system is supposed to help you see clearly. Sometimes, MEL systems drift over time from what they were designed to be. They stop producing learning and start producing reassurance. Here are four signals that this drift has happened to yours.

These four signals are not random. They all trace back to the same root, a design decision most programs get wrong, made years before the indicators were ever chosen. We wrote about that decision in today's Field Notes.

🔗Link in bio.☝

When you sit down to evaluate a program, past the funder template and the standard indicators, what outcomes do you actu...
13/05/2026

When you sit down to evaluate a program, past the funder template and the standard indicators, what outcomes do you actually focus on?

Here is what one of our consultants, , recommends.
There are three things to look for. Do your evaluations ask for each of these things?

Usually, annual reports are full of numbers that prove the work happened. Our question is whether those numbers tell you...
12/05/2026

Usually, annual reports are full of numbers that prove the work happened. Our question is whether those numbers tell you whether the work mattered. There is a difference. And the difference is what separates a program that worked from one that just happened.

Outputs are what you delivered. Trainings held. Forms filled. People reached. Easy to count. Easy to celebrate. They tell you what your team did.

Outcomes are what shifted because of what you delivered. A new behavior. A different decision. A skill being used six months later. Harder to count. This is where the work starts to matter.

Impact is what is now true that was not true before for the people you served, and for you.
Is anyone really asking for these numbers?

It's giving insights. It's giving honesty. It's giving exactly what the sector needs right now. Issue 7 of the Lusoma Ga...
28/04/2026

It's giving insights. It's giving honesty. It's giving exactly what the sector needs right now. Issue 7 of the Lusoma Gazette is officially OUT!! We are not holding back and we are so excited to finally put this one in your hands.

This edition dives deep into the shifts nobody is talking about loudly enough: AI accountability, leadership burnout, and mental health as a systems issue.

For you who is tired but still showing up, for you carrying more than your job description says, for you who is ready to ask better questions, let this be your pause before the week pulls you under.

https://d03ecf9d-44fc-4d2b-ba08-58676740ffac.filesusr.com/ugd/177de6_853e1b001dc9464ebfe0dc2dec95925b.pdf

Your program is busy. But is it changing anything?Most organizations aren't failing because of lack of effort, they're f...
17/04/2026

Your program is busy. But is it changing anything?

Most organizations aren't failing because of lack of effort, they're failing because programs were designed to deliver activities, not create outcomes.
That's the activity trap; and it's more common than anyone admits.

Swipe to see what escaping it actually looks like... and what one shift in your program design can change.

What's one sign you've seen that a program was built around activity, not real change? Tell us below.

02/04/2026

We turned the camera on ourselves this week. 🎥
We asked people in our offices, a simple but powerful question "When you hear what do you think of?" And honestly? The answers were everything from systems and structures, to people and communities.

It got us thinking... impact means something different to everyone. But the thing that ties it all together is, it has to last.

We'd love to hear from you. When you hear "sustainable impact", what comes to mind first? Share your thoughts below 👇🏾

Every year in Rwanda, public leaders make measurable commitments known as Imihigo performance contracts, annual targets ...
20/02/2026

Every year in Rwanda, public leaders make measurable commitments known as Imihigo performance contracts, annual targets that local and national leaders agree to deliver. These are signed, reviewed publicly, and evaluated against clear indicators year after year. https://www.rgb.rw/publications/governance-scorecard

The progress isn’t whispered in offices and closed doors, it is reviewed publicly, the results are visible, and expectations are unmistakably clear.

That clarity is the strength of the system: everyone knows what success looks like long before evaluation day.

For development institutions, the lesson is simple:
Don’t wait for reporting season to define success. Define it at the start.

That is how operational systems sustain impact, consistently, transparently, and beyond any one individual.

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