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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 the experience and lessons learned, it feels like we are barely beyond the starting line. This publication aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on locally led development, especially as to how the United States can address the obstacles posed by U.S. law, regulation, policy, and practice.

8 April 2022 | Skoll Ecosystem Event | Advancing Equity through Networks and Collective Leadership

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice uprisings have moved us to reflect on the type of society and world we want to share. These upheavals have illuminated the colonial roots of our current global development system and the limitations of medical and technological advances to reach the most vulnerable. At the same time, we’ve seen the power of collaborative movements and collective leadership in action. How can we leverage this historical moment to strengthen inclusive networks of diverse, adaptive, equity-driven leaders to effect change across entire ecosystems? This interactive discussion engaging diverse perspectives from funders, government, and local leaders, will explore how collective leadership is cultivated and how greater investments in this networked approach to leadership development can advance our shared vision for a more sustainable and equitable world. Co-organized by Emerging Public Leaders, Global Health Corps, and Teach For All.

8 April 2022 | Skoll Ecosystem Event | Learning from the past to move forward: Systems don’t have agency, people do

From HIV to Ebola to COVID, the history of pandemics has shown that a powerful tool for systems change is cultivating the individual and collective potential of proximate leaders. This conversation will highlight how proximate leaders exercised their agency and mobilized their communities in moments of crisis to build forward better and address system gaps. Hear their views on what it will take to strengthen health and education systems for pandemic preparedness and gain insights into how leadership development functions as a transformative lever for sustainable development. Featuring Hon. Dr. Mark Dybul and rising leaders from Liberia, Pakistan, and Uganda. Co-organized by African Leadership Academy, Global Health Corps and Teach For 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 community-based solutions. Drummond, co-founder of ONE and Odede, CEO and co-founder of Shining Hope for Communities, moderated Room 11 focused on Sustainable Development Goal number 11—on sustainable cities and communities—during the 2021 17 Rooms flagship process.

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 — for example, “You’re so smart, like a white person.” To this day, similar anecdotes can be found throughout African countries. Behaving like a white person, thinking like a white person, or looking like a white person was the yardstick used to measure a person’s worth.

Heart-led Philanthropy to Improve Financial and Social Returns on Investment

Can philanthropy deliver what is expected?

Much has been written about the role philanthropy could play in resetting our fractured and extraordinarily polarised modern world. However, there are disagreements about the way forward. Great resets being mooted. New economic systems. Technology that will save the day. New apps that can entice, cajole, and inform students across the spectrum. Increasing numbers of global forums and think-tanks. Yet, very little is changing.

Four radical shifts towards decolonising aid

Two 5am starts followed by 16 hours of screen time. Yet by the end of the 2021 Humanitarian Leadership Conference, ‘energised’ was the word I used to sum up my feelings. Quite a feat!
Hosted by the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership at Deakin University, the conference challenged delegates to critically reflect on the humanitarian status quo. Speakers and participants dialled in from across the globe. There were representatives from local civil society organisations and large international agencies (INGOs), plus a whole host of individuals, from academics and journalists, to poets and at least one musician!