About our Awards

 IACD presents awards to members deemed by the Board to have made a significant contribution towards the work of the association and to the field of community development. These awards are presented annually at our international conferences or at the Annual General Meeting. 

The IACD Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individuals who have provided an outstanding contribution to international community development throughout a significant portion of their career. 

The IACD Global Ambassador Award is presented to individuals who have provided an outstanding contribution to the work of IACD.

  Anastasia Crickley

  Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

Anastasia was presented with the IACD Lifetime Achievement Award at our 2023 World Community Development Conference in Darwin and is a former recipient of the IACD Global Ambassador Award.

Anastasia has had a distinguished career as a community work practitioner and as an educator in Ireland and internationally.  She was Head of the Department of Applied Social Studies at Maynooth University and played central roles in the establishment of Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre and the Community Workers’ Co-operative, now called Community Work Ireland, becoming its chair. In recent years Anastasia has championed professional standards in community work training and practice and was instrumental in establishing the All-Ireland Endorsement Body for Community Work Education and Training, which she now chairs.

Anastasia served 9 years on the Board of IACD, holding roles of Vice President of the association and co- chair of the International Relations Committee. In 2016 Anastasia was appointed President of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and used this opportunity to enhance the profile of the association and community development internationally. Anastasia chaired the 2018 World Community Development Conference which took place in Maynooth, Ireland and organised the Wild Atlantic Way Practice Exchange.

  Ronnie Fay

  Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award 2022

This was a particularly poignant award made posthumously at our 2022 Annual General Meeting to Ronnie Fay from Ireland, who sadly died in January 2022.

At our 2022 Annual General meeting, we welcomed Philip Watt, Ronnie’s husband, and members of Ronnie’s family who joined that day. We also welcomed colleagues from Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, based in Dublin, where Ronnie was Co-Director, and to colleagues from Community Work Ireland, where Ronnie was Chair.

Community Work Ireland is a long-standing organizational member of IACD and was a principal partner in the organizing and hosting of the World Community Development Conference in Maynooth in 2018.

Ronnie’s outstanding contribution to community work, human rights, equality, and justice is well recognised, respected, and highly regarded at all levels from Presidents, politicians and policy makers to the people she worked with every day.

One of our own Trustees knew Ronnie well.  Anastasia Crickley is a founder member of Pavee Point and a longstanding member and former chairperson of Community Work Ireland.  She and Ronnie were colleagues and friends for many years. Anastasia presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ronnie’s husband, Philip.

  Marjorie Mayo

  Lifetime Achievement Award 2021

Marjorie Mayo is Emeritus Professor of Community Development, at Goldsmiths University of London. Her research has included learning for active citizenship, and access to justice in disadvantaged communities.

She has made a longstanding and hugely influential contribution as an academic and author.  She served for a number of years as a Board member of IACD and as board member of the Oxford University Press Community Development Journal.

Marjorie has been active for many years working in the field of community development, in the UK and internationally, and in particular pioneering the role of women in CD. 

Jody Kretzmann

John L McKnight

John is formerly the director of community studies at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research.

Jody was a former faculty member at the School of Education and Social Policy and IPR Faculty Associate at Northwestern.

John and Jody are the co-founders of the ABCD Institute which they established in the mid 1990-s at Northwestern University (which later moved to DePaul University), building on years of community organising practice and urban neighbourhoods’ research.

They have published extensively on their work and produced widely used resources supporting the ABCD approach. The Institute continues to share and grow their teachings around the world.

  Charlie McConnell

  Lifetime Achievement Award - 2017

Charlie was a member of the Board for eighteen years, during which time he also held roles of Treasurer,  President and Secretary General. He was instrumental in re-structuring the association and relocating its operational base to Scotland. He secured grant funds from the Carnegie Foundation for IACD to run its operations for a number of years. Charlie had a leading role in the development of IACD’s definition of community development as a practice based profession and chaired the working group which produced the International Standards for Community Development.

Charlie has a long standing career in community development with roles including Chair of the Scottish Association of Community Workers, CEO of the Scottish Community Education Council and European Director of the Community Development Foundation, where he worked closely with the Council of Europe, EU and OECD. In 1999 he was appointed as Chair of the National Training Standards Organisation for Community Learning and Development professional training. He is the author/editor of five books, including The Making of an Empowering Profession. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Charlie in 2017, in acknowledgement of his work in building the community development profession and IACD as the international voice for community development.

Global Ambassador Award

Dee Brooks

Maryam Ahmadian

Connie Loden

At our 2022 AGM, we were delighted to award Dee, Maryam, and Connie with Global Ambassador Awards. Dee has been instrumental in promoting IACD across the Pacific region and building our membership through innovative approaches – she was recognized at our 2020 AGM with an Outstanding Contribution Award. Dee’s approach to networking and connecting through the virtual world has positively influenced how IACD now approaches global networking. 

During her term of office Maryam maintained a focus on the needs and circumstances of communities within the Middle East and North Africa through regional updates. She also collaborated with our former Trustee for SE Asia to promote IACD in Malaysia, and attended a number of UN events in New York on IACD’s behalf. 

Connie was very active around supporting development of our systems and processes for membership, marketing and communications. She was a strong contributor to developing our governance systems as well. Along with her colleagues in North America and the Caribbean, she helped to maintain our connection to the Community Development Society.

Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah

Colette McGarva

Daniel Muia

At our 2021 AGM, we were honoured to award the IACD Global Ambassador Award to three IACD Regional Directors who have made a huge impact on IACD and the field of community development.

Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah (Regional Director for Southeast Asia), served three years on the Board. During this time to led on the translation of the International Standards into Malay and worked tirelessly to disseminate the Standards and grow the membership in the South East Asia region.  

Colette McGarva (Regional Director for Europe),  served six years on the board and was instrumental in connecting IACD with third-sector organizations, regional networks, and national networks across Scotland.  She also served as line manager to the IACD administrator and co-chair of the Membership, Communications and Marketing committee.  

Daniel Muia (Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa), was also presented with the Global Ambassador Award. Daniel served as Chair of WCDC2021 and in his first two years on the Board, he has played an essential role in IACD and in the Sub Saharan Africa region – organizing monthly webinars and increasing engagement and membership. 

  Clare MacGillivray

  Global Ambassador Award - 2020

A skilled community development practitioner and human rights champion, Clare joined the Board in 2017 and immediately took up the role of Treasurer, a role she has held for 7 years. During this period of time Clare worked closely with staff to fully modernise IACD’s financial management systems and secure the financial security of the organisation. Clare has also been IACD’s main liaison with the Scottish Government in relation to our annual funding for core running costs.

Within just a year of joining the Board Clare also took on the role of Chair of the 2019 World Community Development Conference which took place in Dundee, Clare’s home town. Following on the success of the 2018 WCDC in Maynooth, the Dundee conference generated significant income for IACD.

In recognition of her commitment and contribution to IACD and the promotion of community development internally, Clare was awarded the IACD Global Ambassador Award in 2020 at our Annual General Meeting.

Kwok Kin Fung

Hung Suet Lin

KK joined the IACD Board in 2013 and over his 9 year tenure he extensively promoted IACD across China and East Asia.  During his time on the Board KK also chaired the Publications Committee and edited the East Asia Practice Insights Special Edition and a special edition of the Community Development Journal on CD in the East Asia region.

KK is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University. His teaching and research work is on areas of community development, social policy, globalization, social welfare, and child poverty. In addition, he has also been actively involved in training for community development services and social workers in Hong Kong and Mainland China.  

Hung Suet Lin (Shirley) is the Associate Head  & Director of Social Work Practice at Hong Kong Baptist University and has been practicing community work by organizing women and residents to advocate for social changes for many years. She has written extensively on Women’s and Migrant issues in China, on globalisation and community work and on strategies to build social capital. Shirley joined the IACD Board in 2022 having played an active role in IACD for several years as a Country Correspondent for China. 

Together, KK and Shirley have been instrumental in raising awareness of IACD undertaking a roadshow and giving presentations across China. In 2019, KK and Shirley were presented with Global Ambassador Awards for their work in promoting community development across China.

  Stewart Murdoch

  Global Ambassador Award - 2019

Stewart was a board member for twelve years, during which time he served as  Treasurer, Secretary and Vice President. 

Stewart has been a strong champion for community development throughout his career from the early 1980’s onwards. Between 1980 and 1990 he was Director of the Maryhill Community Central Halls, a community business which employed 90 staff. In 1990 he  moved to Tayside as Regional Community Education Organiser in 1990 and then Director for Communities before taking up the role of Director for Leisure and Culture for the City of Dundee. Along the way he has chaired the West of Scotland Community Work Accreditation Unit, the Scottish Community Development Centre, Scottish Community Development Alliance and the education and training standards body for Community Education in Scotland. 

Stewart was instrumental in hosting the HQ of IACD in Dundee for some 6 years,  and for establishing a funding partnership with the Scottish Government. He chaired the planning group for the 2014 Glasgow Conference. 

The Global Ambassador Award was presented to Stewart for his work on rebuilding IACD as the international network for community development and for his longstanding advocacy for community development within local government.

  Mini Bedi

  Global Ambassador Award - 2019

Mini Bedi has been a member of IACD since 1986 and served on the Board from the re-launch of the association in 1999 for three full terms – a total of 12 years. Her contribution over the years has been tremendous, including hosting the first of three Practice Exchanges in India, he Community Leadership Programme and  Practitioner Dialogue held in India.

For many years Mini worked for Oxfam in India, promoting community development projects across the country to combat poverty and discrimination. 

The Global Ambassador Award was presented to Mini Bedi for the key role she has played in raising the profile of IACD and community development across India for over three decades.

  Paul Lachapelle

  Global Ambassador Award - 2019

Paul Lachapelle is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Montana State University-Bozeman.  His teaching and research spans many disciplines and practices including community climate change resiliency, diversity and  inclusion, and social justice topics.  His publications include the edited book, “Addressing Climate Change at the Community Level” (Routledge 2019) as well as journal articles on energy impacts in communities, democratic practice and local governance, and community visioning and leadership.

He earned a Ph.D. (Forestry) at the University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation with a focus on natural resource policy and governance. 

Paul joined the Board of IACD in 2014 and served 3 terms, including 3 years as President from 2016-2019.  He is also a member of the Development Society in America.

  Muhammad Bello Shitu

  Global Ambassador Award - 2018

Shitu served 7 years on the IACD Board and from 2015-18 as Vice President and chair of the Membership Committee. He is a Community Development and Innovations Diffusion Specialist and for many years has had a distinguished career in rural community development as a practitioner and teacher. A university Professor, he has taught, researched and written on rural community development for many years. He was a co-founder of the Nigerian Institute for Community Development Practitioners and of the Nigerian Community Development  Journal. He has organised several regional conferences for IACD and the Nigerian Association.

He was awarded the Global Ambassador Award in 2018 in honour of his teaching and networking work in community development in West and Sub Saharan Africa and in raising the profile and membership of the association across Africa.

Anita & Kalyan Paul

Anita Paul served 3 terms on the IACD Board as director for Southern Asia and was a Vice President of IACD from 2015-18. She and Kalyan Paul are the founders of the inspiring Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Programme which for four decades has been supporting community development in the highland regions of India. Here they have initiated a holistic community approach to tackling problems of rural poverty, economic development and environmental sustainability. They were critical of social, economic and environmental projects that operated in silos and failed to see the inter-relationship between these issues within communities. 

In 2016 Anita and Kalyan organised IACD’s Practice Exchange programme to projects in northern India, and the New Delhi Round Table conference on community development and the Sustainable Development Goals. Later that year they represented IACD at the first UN SDG High Level Political Forum event in New York and at the Minnesota conference panel with the World Bank Vice President.  The Global Ambassador Award was presented to Anita and Kalyan in 2017, in acknowledgement of their huge contribution towards building an holistic sustainable development approach to community development in India and in so doing, shaping much of IACD’s continuing professional development support for members in addressing the SDG Agenda 2030.

  Randy Adams

  Global Ambassador Award - 2016

Randy is a previous Vice President of IACD and chair of the Research and Policy Committee, where he led IACD’s global mapping project of CD education. Randy also represented IACD at the UN consultations in the lead up to the adoption of the SDG 2015-30 Agenda. Randy is also a past President of the Community Development Society (CDS) in the U.S. and for many years worked with the US Peace Corps in over forty countries.  Latterly Randy was the Executive Director of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) in the U.S. 

The Global Ambassador Award was presented to Randy in 2016, in acknowledgement of his international development work for IACD and in promoting community development through the Peace Corps.

  Ingrid Burkett

  Global Ambassador Award - 2014

Ingrid was IACD’s first woman President and served from 2010-14. She played a lead role in the Brisbane conference and in raising the association’s profile across Oceania and in subsequent conferences in the US and Europe.  During her tenure IACD launched its first Practice Exchange and Practice Insights magazine and led IACD’s work on asset based community development. Ingrid runs a social business in Australia and is a passionate advocate of community-based practice.

Ingrid specialises in local and international community economic development and is interested in links between community development, community economic development and community cultural development. She has practised, taught and researched community development for over 20 years. The Global Ambassador Award was presented to Ingrid in 2014, in acknowledgement of her international work around community economic and asset-based community development.

  Gary Craig

  Global Ambassador Award

Gary was President of IACD from 1999-2007 and played a central role in rebuilding the association over those years. Gary led the association at several international conferences and was the co-author of the Budapest, Yaoundé and Hong Kong Declarations. Gary is a prolific author, writing and editing more community development books and articles than anyone else in our field. He was one of the main authors of the British Community Development Project (CDP) publications, that influenced the thinking of a new generation of community development practitioners in Britain and beyond. He was for two decades the editor of the Community Development Journal, where he encouraged those working in community development practice and scholarship across the world to share their work.

The world’s first Professor of Social Justice, Gary’s special interests are in race and ethnicity, poverty and inequality, community development, and local governance.  Gary became IACD’s first Global Ambassador in acknowledgement of his work for IACD and his international work around community development and social justice.

Outstanding Contribution Award

Dee Brooks

Michelle Dunscombe

Anastasia Matvievskaya

In 2020 IACD made a special award to recognise Outstanding Contributions of 3 Directors whose contributions stood out during 2019/2020 and the early months of the Covid 19 Pandemic. 

This was awarded to Anastasia Matvievskaya, IACD Regional Director for Europe for her passion in connecting and networking  educators and professionals working with children and adults with disabilities, across the post Soviet space, and for promoting IACD and the IACD International Standards extensively. Awards were also made to Dee Brooks, IACD Regional Director for Oceania; and Michelle Dunscombe, IACD Country Correspondent for Australia who introduced creative and innovative approaches to bringing hundreds of people together online to connect, share and learn around community development practice.