2025 marked MCLD’s 10th anniversary and our second year in our new structure as a global network of networks. As the world around us transformed, we worked together to meet the moment, shape global conversations, lay the foundation for more just systems and strengthen our network.
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Here are five things we’re celebrating from 2025:
Our Network
MCLD added members in new countries from Uruguay to Syria to Papua New Guinea. We began the year with in-person gatherings of all National Associations, where members deepened their connections, strategized and planned annual activities. Our National Associations advocated against gender-based violence in Nigeria and Rwanda, for fiscal decentralization and participatory budgeting in Ethiopia, and for advancing the use of our Participatory CLD Assessment Tool in Benin, Togo and Latin America.
As membership grew, particularly in Asia and Latin America, our Youth Task Force also expanded and launched a chess fellowship for youth in Malawi. Highlights from each of our National Associations are available on our website. In an extremely difficult year, we worked to ensure our members were always informed and shaping global conversations on the future of our sector.
The map above shows countries with MCLD members. We understand maps are political statements and borders often have a legacy of violence and colonialism. We use this map simply to show where all our members are located, not to endorse any borders.
Our Influence
From Nairobi to New York City, MCLD members and staff participated in the UN General Assembly, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the Second World Social Development Summit, the East Africa Philanthropy Forum, and 26 other global events.
MCLD ensured that local and community-based organizations themselves had input on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) locally-led development guidelines. We advocated for the importance of government-civil society collaboration and ensured good practices from our members’ work were highlighted by Local 2030. We secured a seat for our member, Doris Fatima Weber from Sierra Leone, on the OECD Community of Practice on Poverty and Inequality Review Committee.
In Nigeria, our members reached over 50 million people through TV, radio, and grassroots action with their campaign on violence against women. Members in Ethiopia, Kenya and Togo trained local government representatives on community-led approaches.
Photos from Left to Right: Gunjan Veda (Global Secretary) at Scotland’s International Development Alliance (SIDA) Annual Conference, Cathy Amenya (Programs and Partnerships Manager) at the African Philanthropy Forum, John Coonrod (Founder and US Board Chair) attending the Second World Social Development Summit.
Our Learning and Mutual Capacity Strengthening
We launched our book, Community-led Development in Practice: We power our own change, first, globally on Zoom to our network, then in Washington, D.C., London, New York, and Lisbon. We also organized virtual events with Partos and the Asia Pacific Evaluation Association (APEA). The book’s authors shared insights into what CLD really looks like on the ground.
Globally, we hosted 30 learning events, both virtually and in person. Themes included unpacking multilateral processes, responding to shrinking civic space, understanding why our structure matters, and honing our communications and proposal writing skills. We also introduced a community-led monitoring, evaluation, and learning community of practice.
MCLD Turned 10!
Our global community united in May to celebrate our 10-year anniversary with events in Latin America and East, West, and Southern Africa, followed by a global Zoom event with over 500 people from 59 countries. For 10 years, the commitment of thousands of people to the power and potential of community-led development has kept us moving forward. It was an opportunity to celebrate what we have accomplished so far and reflect on the changes we’ve seen, but more importantly, to look forward as a collective. These events were a demonstration of our collective spirit of optimism and determination.
Photo artwork: “We Shine Together” by Ana Filipa dos Santos Lopes under Creative Commons License
Governance and Strategy
We have now operationalized our new organizational structure with gender equity at every level: MCLD is governed by our members across the world, with National Associations at the heart. We held elections for our governing Global Assembly in July that deepened democratic participation and shared leadership. Our 2025 Global Assembly members are represented in the collage on the right.
We also finalized our collectively developed strategic plan for the next four years. Strategic planning with all our members was an enterprise, but we are stronger, more aligned, focused and committed as a result.
