Recognizing that effective leadership is a pre-requisite for good governance, MDA designs targeted leadership development programs that take cognizance of each client’s unique economic, social and environmental challenges. We also support the process of improving people’s participation and influence in public decision making through civil society organizations, community forums and participatory, democratic processes.
Our leadership development portfolio combines experiential, learning by doing and didactic techniques to build decision-making and institutional capacity. The curriculum is tailored to the type of institution or sector, scope of interaction of the target group, and key capacities and competencies to be developed. It is delivered primarily through workshops, pre- and post-training assignments, mentoring and support, with tools to track and report performance.
We promote the creation of an environment that engenders country ownership and public sector accountability through a two-prong approach of; instituting policy and regulatory frameworks to improve coordination, information flow, transparency and accountability at national and sub-national levels; and, strengthening civil society engagement in planning, implementation and monitoring of services.
MDA facilitates consensus building among governments, communities, civil society and other development actors to more effectively address issues related to civic education, resource mobilization and service delivery. We design participatory, democratic processes that bring together multi-stakeholders (policy makers, opinion leaders, nongovernmental organizations, religious groups, the media, private sector, communities, and individuals) to raise awareness, secure consensus and social commitment to address critical development issues.
Our priorities are informed by consultation with key stakeholders to engender a sense of ownership in both the process and outcome of our work. We integrate gender issues into all aspects of our approach.