Rooted and Rising: A Conversation on Holistic, Community-Led Development

​Co-hosted by Full Spectrum Coalition, Legado and Tostan.
Duration: 90 minutes | Interactive Roundtable

​What does it take to build development models that are community-rooted, culturally grounded, and systemically impactful?

​Join the conversation with a powerful group of leaders for a dynamic, cross-sector conversation on Holistic, Community-Led Development (HCLD) — an approach that centers local priorities, lived experience, and long-term systems change.

​This session brings together members of the Full Spectrum Coalition, a collective effort by organizations deeply invested in community-led work, including:

• ​Sobel Aziz Ngom, CEO of Tostan

• ​Tita Alvira, Senior Network Weaver at Legado

• ​Majka Burhardt, Co-Founder of the Full Spectrum Coalition and CEO of Legado

​Together, they’ll invite a room-wide conversation around:

• ​Values-driven approaches to locally-led development

• ​Practical tools for collaboration and long-term partnership

• ​Meaningful methods to document and measure impact

• ​Bridging research and strategy with the realities on the ground

​Designed as an open and interactive dialogue, this session invites participants from across disciplines, cultures, and sectors to reflect, question, and contribute to a shared vision for development that shifts power, honors place, and catalyzes lasting change.

​Whether you're a funder, practitioner, researcher, policymaker, or movement-builder, come ready to listen, share, and help shape the future of community-led work.