This blog was written by Sukhgerel Dugersuren (Executive Director of OT Watch and Rivers without Boundaries Mongolia, and members of the Coalition Steering Committee), as part of a series we’re launching in 2025 to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.
Across the world, way too often we see how communities are not consulted about what type of development they want. They are not asked to be part of it and to shape it according to their needs and priorities.
Ten years ago, when the Coalition was moving its first steps, I joined the first Global Advocacy Team (GAT). It is an initiative led by the International Accountability Project – one of the Coalition’s founding members – that brings together community organizers from around the world to conduct community-led research and mobilize their communities to change how development is designed, funded and implemented.
As part of the work with the first GAT, we developed survey questions for communities in eight countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The survey results showed that development finance was replicating a top-down approach: communities were not asked what development they wanted and offered no opportunities to be part of it. This is why we had the idea of supporting communities in shaping their own development and engaging with development banks before it is too late, before bank projects come to take their land. We also realized how important it was to have a global collective that could advance community-led research for development. Today, Coalition’s initiatives such as the Early Warning System and the Community Resource Exchange program are working towards these goals.
After years of active involvement in Coalition activities, in April 2024 I was elected as one of the 10 members of the Steering Committee. This has helped me look back and revive some ideas, like building a global communities’ alliance.
The Coalition allows us to work together across all regions engaging with all development banks on emerging and persisting issues. One of these is the carbon or environmental footprint of development finance affecting Global South communities, human rights defenders and activists. At the moment, for instance, we are working together with another Coalition’s members – the NGO Forum on ADB – on the challenges presented by Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s initiatives, such as the Climate Smart Mining technical assistance project for Mongolia and the broader Critical Minerals to Clean Energy Technology (CM2CET) approach to be implemented in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Philippines and Indonesia.
I love the Coalition’s collaborative research reports (such as Demystifying Development Finance or the Financing Repression, to name a few) and the activities of the Defenders in Development, an essential program essential for our protection as human rights defenders and for our right to a safe working environment.
Over the years, the Coalition has received international recognition and has become a strong institution. But in today’s changing world, we will need to build an even stronger foundation, with stronger local communities and well-protected defenders. All Coalition members should become active participants and contribute to its future work.
As a Coalition, we need to seek ways to address challenges like the shrinking civic space, reduced funding opportunities, and growing attacks and threats against those defending their right to development.
We need to be ready to give more support to communities and defenders, as the global rush for critical minerals turns resource-rich countries into sacrifice zones. We already feel it in Mongolia, and I am sure our member communities around the world are facing the same or similar challenges.
I hope the Members Gathering in July will give a new impetus to our Coalition’s work for the next decade.
Happy 10th Anniversary Coalition!