UPCOMING | 28 June 2022 | People First Talk: Vishal Talreja
In this talk, Vishal will reflect on his own journey to build Dream a Dream, what’s he’s learned about empowering young people to overcome adversity and thrive in a fast…
Collective Leadership as a Path for Sustainable Development
Putting People, Agency and Leadership First
Introduction
The People First Community is a cross-sectoral and globally diverse group of practitioners, academics, and public and private sector actors with a shared belief in the importance of prioritizing investing in collective leadership development as a path for sustainable development. This Community believes we have not had enough focus on leadership development within the international development field to this point, and that when the international community has focused on it, we have not done so with a goal of developing collective, diverse, locally rooted leadership focused on sustainable development.
The objective of this Community is twofold. First, the Community intends to be a space for learning, thought partnership, and collaboration among its members. Second, we aim to raise awareness about the importance of growing investment in collective leadership development and influence the international development ecosystem.
Who we are
We are a community of practitioners, academics, and public and private sector actors who believe in the people in developing contexts to drive their own progress, and have seen through our own experiences that investing in them must be our first focus as a development community. We are committed to living into the principles of a “people first” approach to development in our own work and to advocating for the broader transformation of international development towards this approach.
Events
12 May 2022 | Catalyzing Change Week: Investing in leadership and management to catalyze progress against the SDGs
We believe that a better world is possible, a world with universal access to essential healthcare, reduced inequality, more sustainable food supplies, transformed educational systems, and a greater emphasis on…
12 April 2022 | People First Talk: Fred Swaniker
In this inaugural talk, Fred reflected on his deepest learnings from building the African Leadership Group, how it’s shaped his beliefs about what kind of leaders we need, and what…
What We’re Reading
Education Reimagined: Leadership for a new era
This WISE ALL-IN special publication bears witness to the critical role of leadership in promoting and enabling student and system-deep learning. The collection reveals the centrality of education leadership in…
Locally Driven Development
Locally led development is a complex process that the development community, in the United States and around the world, has spent several decades trying to get right. Yet, despite all…
Valuing local knowledge and solutions for SDG progress
In this sixteenth interview of the “17 Rooms” podcast, Jamie Drummond and Kennedy Odede discuss shifts in power, process, and funding to uplift proximate leaders and value local knowledge and…
Investing in Public Sector Leadership and Management to Accelerate Sustainable Development
The COVID-19 pandemic has vividly demonstrated that thoughtful, data-driven, and accountable leadership has been a significant determinant of the trajectory of this emergency – locally, nationally, and globally. The current…
Opinion: 5 ways to decolonize global health and build greater equity
As a health economist from Ghana, I’m often asked about my take on the decolonization of global health. For me, any discussion of decolonization brings to mind Ghana’s first president,…
Opinion: Africa will flourish if we invest in its young people
Growing up in Zimbabwe, “wakangwara semurungu,” a Shona phrase that means “wise white person,” was a typical compliment given if you did well in school or looked particularly chic —…
Join our Community
We invite you to join the conversation! Share your ideas, give feedback on our evolving effort, and contribute to our expanded understanding and adoption of a “people first” approach to development.
For more information, please contact people@peoplefirstdev.org.
For more information, please contact people@peoplefirstdev.org.
