About the Leader Collective

The Leader Collective was born out of Blood:Water’s missional commitment to invest in and elevate partners and their vision for lasting change. From inception, it was envisioned to reflect our expanding definition of community and a long-term commitment to collaboration, which extends well beyond our grant-partners. Founding leadership to the Leader Collective is provided by an Advisory Committee for Co-Creation, defining and driving the parameters for its purpose, content, membership and community norms.

About Membership

The Leader Collective’s membership is open beyond the Blood:Water community, creating a valuable platform for wider public good as well as engagement and participation with other aligned organizations that center their approaches, values and models around African leaders and communities owning and driving development.

There are two categories that typically define an eligible and aligned organization:

Collaborative Practitioners:

African-led and community-driven organizations that exist to advance community development on the continent across sectors. A practitioner organization can have varied registration types and structures but should not the exceed national scope of operations. (International or multi-country registration would be a larger scope than intended for this specific community of practice)

**Collaborative Partners:**

Philanthropic or funding organizations that are committed to positioning resources directly for African-led and community-driven development on the continent. This is demonstrated by alignment with the Catalyst 2023 Shifting the Funding Paradigm, and more specifically the 4 strategic shifts of the Africa Forward initiative: narrative shift, ecosystem development, funding, and job creation.