Partners: mc2h Foundation; Global Fund for Children
Period: 2026 –
Country of operation: Ghana
Category: Education & Literacy, Community Development, Evidence Generation (MERL), Policy Analysis & Advocacy
Project Snapshot
The Ghana Community-Led Development (CLD) Collaborative is a multi-partner initiative aimed at strengthening community-driven approaches to education and literacy. Rooted in the belief that sustainable change happens when communities drive their own development, the Collaborative works to ensure that Community-Led Development is increasingly adopted, resourced, and legitimized within education planning and delivery.
The initiative supports local organizations, communities, and government actors to center community voices in designing solutions that address children’s educational needs. Through shared learning, evidence generation, and cross-partner collaboration, the Collaborative seeks to influence both practice and policy toward more equitable and locally driven education systems.
Project Objectives
Main Goal:
Promote and institutionalize Community-Led Development (CLD) approaches within Ghana’s education ecosystem.
Specific Objectives:
- Promote community-driven approaches that place communities at the center of education solutions.
- Strengthen the capacity of local actors to design, lead, advocate for, and sustain initiatives addressing children’s educational needs.
- Foster cross-learning among local organizations to deepen effective community-driven strategies.
- Advocate for policy and practice changes that recognize and invest in communities as central to equitable, quality education.
- Document, analyze, and share lessons from community-led initiatives to support adaptation and scaling.
PDA’s Task
PDA serves as the Participatory Research (PR) and Learning Partner for the Collaborative in Ghana.
Our role is to design and implement a robust Learning & Evaluation (L&E) framework that integrates participatory methodologies, strengthens outcome monitoring (OM), facilitates Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) processes, and synthesizes evidence to support advocacy for Community-Led Development approaches.
How We Are Going About It
PDA participated in the inaugural three-day onboarding workshop held in Accra, which convened Collaborative partners to align on vision, principles, and shared learning priorities.
To deepen its expertise in community-led methodologies, PDA is currently participating in a 10-day intensive training on advancing community-led wellbeing as a foundation for indigenous, community-driven development. The training is being delivered by Tostan in Thiès, Senegal.
In parallel, PDA is developing and finalizing a comprehensive Learning & Evaluation framework in partnership with the key partners. The framework integrates learning across three interconnected levels:
- Community level – capturing community-driven outcomes and local change processes.
- Collaborative partner level – strengthening organizational learning and adaptation.
- Overall Collaborative level – synthesizing evidence to influence broader education policy and practice.
Through this structured learning architecture, the Collaborative aims to generate actionable evidence, strengthen community voice, and champion CLD as a viable and scalable approach to equitable education in Ghana.