Course Background

Community-Driven Development (CDD) empowers communities to actively participate in planning, decision-making, and implementation of local projects. This course equips participants with practical tools, policy frameworks, and case studies to strengthen community-led service delivery in sectors like health, education, water, sanitation, and environmental conservation.

Participants will explore digital engagement, public-private partnerships, participatory budgeting, and strategies to foster sustainable, inclusive, and impactful community-driven development initiatives.

Course Objectives

Understand theoretical foundations and global best practices of CDD.

Design and implement participatory planning, monitoring, and evaluation systems.

Analyze governance frameworks that support accountability in community-led projects.

Explore financing models and resource mobilization strategies.

Foster inclusive engagement of marginalized groups including women, youth, and vulnerable populations.

Learn from real-world CDD case studies.

Develop strategies to scale successful CDD models through policy and institutional frameworks.

Create action plans tailored to participants’ institutional contexts.

What You Will Learn

Principles and processes for effective CDD and devolved service delivery.

Participatory tools for community engagement, needs assessment, and decision-making.

Institutional arrangements supporting accountability in local development.

Performance measurement and results-based management for community projects.

Funding sources including donor mechanisms and participatory budgeting.

Integrating gender, equity, and social protection into CDD projects.

Applying global case study knowledge to real-life contexts.

Preparing context-specific strategies or project plans.

Target Participants

Government officials in local governance, rural development, social services, or infrastructure.

Local government authorities, municipal council representatives.

Development agency staff, NGOs, civil society, and donor-funded project personnel.

Policy advisors, program managers, social development specialists, and community facilitators.

Training Style

Modules are delivered via PowerPoint presentations, lectures, case studies, field visits, breakout sessions, and interactive discussions. Guest speakers, both in-person and via Zoom, provide real-world insights. Experienced practitioners, academics, and policymakers facilitate sessions with plenary discussions and group exercises.

Training Modules

NoModuleDetails1Foundations of Community-Driven Development (CDD)Evolution and global context, principles of empowerment, case studies, stakeholder roles, institutionalizing CDD.2Governance and Institutional Frameworks for CDDPolicy/legal frameworks, institutional arrangements, stakeholder responsibilities, transparency and accountability mechanisms.3Participatory Planning and Community EngagementParticipatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), visioning, stakeholder analysis, conflict-sensitive engagement, community mobilization.4Resource Mobilization and Financing for CDDBudget allocation, donor financing, public financial management, community contributions, participatory budgeting.5Implementation Strategies and Project ManagementProject cycle management, facilitator roles, procurement, supervision, quality control, risk management.6Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) in CDDMEL system design, indicators, data collection, community scorecards, reporting, adaptive learning.7Social Inclusion and Equity in CDDGender mainstreaming, empowering youth/women/vulnerable groups, cultural competence, grievance redress mechanisms.8Sustainability, Policy Linkages, and Scaling UpInstitutional ownership, partnerships, lessons from scale-up, exit strategies, aligning with national/global goals.

General Notes

Training manuals and additional reference materials provided.

Participants receive a certificate upon successful completion.

Tailor-made courses are available upon request: info@ecasiafrica.org.

Payment should be sent to our bank account before training; proof of payment via email.

About ECAS Institute

ECAS Institute delivers training, research, and consulting in climate change, resilience building, carbon markets, renewable energy, nature-based solutions, biodiversity, and agriculture. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, we work across Africa and globally with partners from the UK, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Germany, and the USA.

Elevate Your Professional Development

Join this international training program to strengthen your skills in community-driven development, participatory governance, and local service delivery.

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