What It Means to Prosper
What 1,100+ people in communities facing crisis say stands in their way, and how to move beyond survival
It is no use to prosper if others are left behind.
Voices of Prosperity is Prosper Global’s ongoing initiative to listen to and share community perspectives on what prosperity means, what prevents people from achieving it, and what support can help.
The inaugural report draws on 396 individual and group conversations with 1,102 people in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kenya, Syria, and Ukraine. Conducted by local teams in 15 languages, the conversations included people living through conflict, climate change, displacement, and economic hardship.
Key findings
- Prosperity is shared. Participants rarely described prosperity as an individual outcome. They connected their own well-being to the progress of their families, neighbors, and communities.
- Prosperity includes the ability to plan. Safety and stability allow people to look beyond immediate needs and make decisions about education, livelihoods, and the future.
- Prosperity is built from within communities. Participants emphasized existing knowledge, mutual support, local networks, and shared resources—not outside assistance alone.
Three barriers emerged consistently: conflict and insecurity, the lived consequences of climate change, and economic hardship, particularly limited opportunities for young people.
What the findings suggest
As crises last longer, climate impacts intensify, and resources grow more constrained, emergency assistance remains essential when crisis strikes, but participants’ responses point to needs that extend beyond immediate survival. People also need safety, stability, viable livelihoods, and the opportunity to plan for what comes next.
These findings will inform Prosper Global’s priorities and approach. The Voices of Prosperity initiative will continue to gather community perspectives and examine how local knowledge and solutions can guide responses to shared challenges.
