Creating spaces for knowledge decolonization: changing relationships and shifting power dynamics for co-creation across the Movement for Community-led Development. Part 2

Resumen

The Movement for Community-led Development (MCLD) envisions alternatives to neo-colonial habits and structures, co-creating new ways to come together as we move away from top-down, expert-driven development. The process of creating our inclusive space has helped movement members nurture trust, experiment, and learn together along the way, with successes, ambiguous results, and valuable failures. In the first article in this series, we introduced the community-led worldview of systems change, a framework that begins with intangibles that can lead to tangible change. This second article offers ten recommendations for taking action to decolonize knowledge and foster authentic community-led development. The recommendations highlight the experiences and wisdom of our movement members and unpack core values of true community-led development, with specific implications for diverse stakeholders. From centering local knowledge to agency to focusing on facilitation and co-creation, the recommendations describe innovations made possible by the perspective of community-led development. The content of both articles in this series were generated from the input of more than 300 movement members, gathered through in-depth interviews, collective and ongoing dialogue and feedback, and an online survey.