The School for Community-led Development, the first of its kind in Kenya and on the continent, has been set up through a partnership between the Movement for Community-led Development (MCLD) and the Government of Makueni County. It seeks to train citizens, community leaders, civil society professionals and government officials from across the county and the country to ensure that every person has a voice in decisions that affect their lives. The School is a result of a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between MCLD and the County Government of Makueni, signed on September 30, 2021, to strengthen CLD to tackle development challenges. 

The School located in the county’s Wote Town was officially launched by His Excellency Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior on March 16, 202,3 as a Center for Collaborative Learning demonstrating the power of government-civil society partnerships. 

The school will provide a platform to develop the capacity of county officials and community members on how they can be involved to localize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Vision 2030, and other development blueprints by the county. The facility will also provide a unique platform for the other 46 counties, development partners, and other countries in the region to benchmark on CLD best practices.

• Prioritizing the People
• Co-learning and full participation
• Innovation and Sustainability
• Pride in Kenya – its diversity and heritage
• Personal responsibility for getting value
• Positivity, Possibility, and inspiration
• Appreciation of every person
• Citizen – Government – civil society partnership

The 16-week CLD certificate course at the School comprises modules on the SDGs, community-based planning, gender equity, resource mobilization, community wealth-building, disaster preparedness, citizen-led governance, data for the people, and social accountability.  The modules will be delivered by proximate leaders and experts from Kenya through collaboration with development professionals from around the world. The School will use a participatory Learning-by-Doing methodology, building on the existing knowledge, wisdom and expertise of participants through discussion, small group work, and a plethora of collaborative learning techniques. It will equip them with tools and the latest discussions from the field of development.