Activism and Community Leadership

In 2025, we continued our effort to bring the powerful ideas behind Thriving Futures—including 360° Community-Led Change—to a broad audience.

Launching Our Newest Film: Meet the Gully Mamas

In late 2025, we were honored to work with a group of Samburu women, who call themselves “the Gully Mamas,” to elevate their voices so they can share their story in a new, 5-minute film. The Mamas are leading the way towards building a Thriving Future—one where their children’s education, their livelihoods, and their environment can flourish together.

Shot by Tanzanian videographer Roshni Lodhia and edited by Kenyan film editor Jim Kuria, this film showcases women leading a new era of 360° Community-Led Change in Northern Kenya.

Watch It Now

Championing Community-Led Approaches

Throughout 2025, we were honored to advocate for holistic processes for change:

In April, our team co-hosted The Power Cs:

Climate, Conservation, Connection event at Skoll World Forum. The event brought together leading conservationists from around the world to ignite meaningful conversations with powerful outcomes.

In May, we invited our community to join us

for a Town Hall exploring our commitment to remaining 360° Community-Led in a time of change. Then, in November, we brought our community together for another Town Hall, inviting guests to get up close on action in Peru and learn about our Partnership Journey.

In September, as part of UN Climate Week,

CEO and Founder Majka Burhardt participated in a panel hosted by our partner Planet Indonesia that explored, “Can Carbon Projects Actually Be Community-Led?” Other panelists included representatives from Mitra BUMMA, Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku, Climate Justice Standard, Health In Harmony, and Planet Indonesia.

Also as part of Climate Week,

Legado co-hosted “Rooted and Rising,” a conversation on Holistic Community-Led Change, co-hosted by the Full Spectrum Coalition (see below for more details).

Legado's work was featured in NEID's October newsletter as an example "that when local leaders—especially women, elders, and youth—are given the space and tools to articulate their vision, they don’t just adapt to crises; they redefine what resilience and progress look like on their own terms."

In November, the IKEA Foundation released a new study, “Shifting Power, Resources and Capacity to Local Actors: Insights on Localisation,” featuring Legado and our Thriving Futures Process as a leading example of how to strengthen local agency and reimagine what true localisation looks like in practice.

Read the report Now

Building Partnerships
to Expand Impact

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In 2025, we began a new partnership with Rippleworks, an organization that provides practical support to social impact organizations. Most notably, their project team has partnered with our global team to produce key new pieces around our partnership journey—a critical step in supporting our future growth.
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From October to December, Claire Poelking, Senior Program Officer at MacArthur Foundation, joined Legado for three months as part of a Learning and Leadership sabbatical supported by the foundation. Her time with Legado is part of an effort to deepen the MacArthur Foundation’s grounding in holistic, community-led change, especially in work alongside Indigenous populations.
Read Claire’s reflections from her trip with Legado to Ngilai, Kenya, here
We led two Champions Trips this year—to Northern Kenya in February and to Peru In October. The trips give Legado supporters a first-hand look at Thriving Futures. Both journeys were incredible times of mutual support and learning for community members and Legado supporters.

“We support Legado because we believe in what they do in the world. The Champions Trip confirmed that we are right about Legado. The organization takes the total opposite approach of most charities, working with communities to develop a Legacy Plan that will work for the community and the environment and will be sustainable—not a one time photo op.

Seeing that in action was amazing. The team treats every person with respect. The community in Saniriato was so welcoming to us and so proud of what they are achieving. When we were in Saniriato I felt that we can do this: we can improve the planet with these small but giant steps.”

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Julie Weisman 
2025 Champions Trip participant

Spearheading Systems Change with the Full Spectrum Coalition

Throughout 2025, Legado continued to work alongside several like-minded organizations in the Full Spectrum Coalition (FSC). Our shared vision is a world of thriving people and places, where community leaders, local collectives, and grassroots organizations drive sustained, multidimensional impact—supported by partnerships that center local values, visions, and potential.

This year, we were joined by research and learning organizations IDInsight and the Institute for Development Studies, and are moving forward with an Evidence and Learning initiative that will 1) build a common measurement framework, including a shared results framework and indicators; 2) catalyze further use and uptake of learning, tools, and approaches; and 3) continue to design for a shared impact study to show how full-spectrum processes and programs contribute to holistic, long-term impact. Highlights from the year included:

In March, members of the Evidence and Learning Initiative convened in Somone, Senegal, to advance the learning agenda for understanding Holistic Community-Led Development (HCLD) as implemented by FSC members. The team deliberated on research questions and methods to evaluate our organizations’ approaches to advance HCLD. Two research- and evaluation-oriented reflections that came out of our collaborative week in Senegal are available on the IDS blog here and here.

In September, during New York City Climate Week, FSC members Legado and Tostan, members of the Full Spectrum Coalition, co-hosted Rooted and Rising. The event convened 34 participants to explore what it takes to build development models that are community-rooted, culturally grounded, and systemically impactful. Representatives from the Pastoral Women’s Council, Tostan, and Legado—all FSC members—shared inspiring and practical examples of their approaches to community-led development. Participants then engaged in interactive small-group discussions to reflect on two key questions: What do you consider the central tenets of holistic community-led development? and, What measurement and documentation approaches are being developed to assess its impact? The conversation sparked inspiration, practical exchange, and new cross-sector connections.

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In June, our Senior Network Weaver Dr. Tita Alvira participated in a webinar organized by IDInsight and Global Evaluation Week, exploring the question: What if development was truly community-led? The session was titled “Supporting Values-based Holistic Community-led Development: An Evidence and Learning Initiative of the Full Spectrum Coalition.” The webinar shared the vision of the FSC and the work of the ELI with a broader audience.

Watch Now
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