The X factor? The case for people over things in development

For three decades, Wendy Kopp’s focus has been the same: people over things. Kopp was just 21 when she started Teach for America, a program that today has placed some 65,000 educators in underserved schools. Those involved are trained to teach in some of the country’s most difficult classrooms — and at school after school, Kopp saw the effects. Students were learning better. New teachers were growing into leaders. And after their teaching stint was up, nearly 85% of those in the program went to work full-time in education, child services, public health, or other mission-related fields, the organization reported. “Through that journey, I became obsessed with this idea that with enough leadership, you could change anything,” said Kopp, who now runs Teach for All — a global network of organizations that mirror Teach for America in 62 countries worldwide. “What we’ve come to call collective leadership is the X factor.” At the same time, others were realizing the same. There was the President’s Young Professionals Program of Liberia, a two-year initiative that trains and places recent university graduates in government roles; Emerging Public Leaders, which brought a similar program to Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, and Malawi; and Global Health Corps, which paired African nationals with Americans, and brought the duos to different health-focused organizations in East Africa, South Africa, and the United States — training them to approach their work across cultures. “It just felt like we were onto something,” Kopp told Devex. “And it felt like putting our heads together across sectors could both accelerate our own learning and build a movement.” In 2019, the culmination of that thinking led to the launch of the People First Community, a network of organizations focused on leadership development — and in placing an emphasis on people over things. Today, there are more than 600 organizations, governments, donors, and researchers under the People First umbrella, all of which are trying to build people’s leadership capacity while bringing about impact. “We decided to convene around this question of, how do we ignite an evolution in development that puts people and leaders at the center?” said Anna Molero, who serves as both the secretariat of the People First Community and the chief government officer at Teach for All. “Could we change the development paradigm to put people first?” A focus on people For decades, global development has centered around things. Handing out mosquito nets, procuring antiretroviral drugs, and building classrooms are activities that can easily be tracked, monitored, and quantified. It’s simple to say, for example, whether a well has or has not been built. But those behind the People First Community stress that when you focus on things, you’re missing something even more critical to sustainable development — the people who have the ability to make lasting change. “You can get a certain amount of the way there, for example, through vaccines,” Kopp explained. “But to really have strong primary care systems and preventative medicines, you need to build the capacity of the system.” It’s something Abigail Kajumba, the executive director of Emerging Public Leaders, has seen first-hand. The program, a member of the People First Community, puts young, emerging leaders in public-facing service roles for two years. After they finish the program, Kajumba said many are appointed to senior roles within their governments. Some also continue to use their EPL network to drive change, she said, noting an example from one alumni that now serves as the chief of staff to Liberia’s minister of education. “He can go to another ministry when something seems to be stalling and ask another alumni what’s going on,” Kajumba said. “Together, they can make sure that whatever it is they’re trying to do, it gets worked out properly.” For Musimbi Kanyoro, the board chair of United World Colleges International — another member of People First Community focused on education — focusing on people is important for another reason, too: it makes programming more effective. “We all know that we need infrastructure, bridges, and schools. But when you focus on the people in a particular place, you can ask them what’s most relevant, and they can participate,” Kanyoro said. “You can have the same amount of money, but be able to give it differently depending on a community’s own needs.” Women who went through Teach for America were 10% more likely to run for political office than their non-Teach for America counterparts, a 2019 study found. Oxfam’s Raising Her Voice program, a six-year initiative that aimed to increase female influence in Nepal, resulted in three-quarters of all those involved taking on leadership roles, People First Community reported. And after a U.N. Environment Programme initiative in Fiji trained ministry staff members on project management, multilateral cooperation, and other skills, several carbon reduction programs made their debut — leading to annual carbon reductions of 170,000 tons throughout the island nation. “Sometimes it's easier to invest in a thing that you know is supposed to produce good. But you need local leaders to make something impactful,” said Kajumba. “We’re investing in people that we believe will impact their countries.” Changing the development paradigm For the past five years, the organizations behind People First Community have been trying to drum up a change. To do so, they’ve focused on four main objectives: learning from one another about how to develop collective leadership; advancing research on how to do that well; strengthening the case for collective leadership’s value; and unlocking investment in people versus things. The latter will require a mindset shift, Molero said — and a big one. While the private sector invests up to $40 billion a year in leadership development, there’s no similar comparison for programs in the public sector, a 2022 study by the High-Level Council on Leadership and Management for Development found. Another report from the Boston Consulting Group showed that just 0.01% of total development assistance goes toward projects related to local leadership development, amounting to $15.2 million in 2018. “Donors want to take something that works, usually with an [randomized control trial] behind it, and replicate it in different contexts with the promise of short-term results,” said Molero. “But this takes time. It’s long-term — we’re running a marathon here, or even longer.”