January 31, 2023

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) invited all relevant stakeholders to the 2023 Partnership Forum with the theme: “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels.”

MCLD hosted an in-person side event: January 31, 2023 – 8:15am to 9:30am, Conference Room 5.

Speakers

Matthew Cruse, Senior Director – Accountability, Impact, and Measurement, Relief International

Louise Umutoni-Bower, Policy Director, Spark Microgrants

Nelly Mecklenburg, (Moderator), Program Manager and Advisor, Community and Social Development, Institute for State Effectiveness

Pablo Sanchez, Senior Data Scientist, The Hunger Project

Zipporah Wambua, Director for Participatory Development, Makueni County, Kenya

Our event explored how local ecosystems responded to the COVID19 crisis, the lessons from the pandemic that we need to take forward (especially around “Less is More”) and how Shifting the Power is the only pathway towards meeting the SDGs. This session was a dynamic conversation, initiated by our speakers and then opened to the whole room, among practitioners from civil society and local government on how to accelerate the process of shifting a greater share of resources and decision making power to local communities.