The projects which BASED-UK supports are those which have developed from grass-roots initiatives and are self-governing and have the potential to become self-sustaining. BASED-UK is able to offer assistance to these organisations when they are scaling up their operations in order to bring benefit to larger numbers of people.

Projects usually have an emphasis on building capacity within a region, through the training of people keen to be of service to their community. In these projects concrete action is directed towards visible improvement of some aspect of life, but success is measured by the impact these actions have on the capacity of the community and its institutions to address development issues at increasingly higher levels of complexity and effectiveness.

BASED-UK supported projects involve and benefit all community members irrespective of their religious, political or ideological affiliation. BASED-UK and its partners are committed to learning, ensuring spiritual and material progress, ethical practice, a human-rights based approach, local participation, gender equality, making a positive contribution to social cohesion, and respecting and appreciating cultural, ethnic, racial and religious diversity.