About the Coalition for Effective Local Democracy
The Coalition for Effective Local Democracy (CELD) was incorporated in 2000 and has been helping people help themselves for over 25 years. The idea for CELD began when my husband, Michael Bell, traveled to South Africa in 1991. He was with Johns Hopkins University and was involved in projects in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
After spending additional years in South Africa, he realized that ordinary citizens needed to understand and participate in their democracy. They now had rights, but they also had responsibilities. This realization became the foundation for CELD’s mission.
Our Approach
CELD’s journey has been rewarding, humbling, and inspiring. We partner with villages in several African countries to support locally defined projects. The people themselves know what their communities need and want — and they define the project.
CELD looks for communities that take the initiative to improve their situation. In most cases, this has centered on education for their children.
Our First Project: Kulile High School
CELD’s first initiative was to partner with a village in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to build Kulile High School. CELD provided most of the funding, while the community contributed additional funds and labor.
During a trip in April 2025, my husband and I visited the school. It had been 22 years since our last visit, and for me it was very emotional. The school is still operating with 260 students. They came out of their classrooms to greet us and stood in the courtyard to listen as we spoke about the school’s history.
We talked about how their parents and grandparents envisioned this place of learning and worked together to make it happen. We are currently considering this school as a candidate for laptop computers and the upgrades needed to support them.
Additional Projects
There have been too many projects over the years to list here. Some are detailed on this website, and numerous newsletters have been written to keep our donors informed about recent initiatives.
Acknowledgment
In closing, CELD owes a great deal of gratitude to one of its founding board members, Wilton Mkwayi. My husband and I were fortunate to be introduced to him in the mid-to-late 1990s. He was an anti-apartheid leader in the 1950s and 1960s and was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island.
He joined CELD because he was committed to improving the lives of the disenfranchised and marginalized. Together, we identified projects to fulfill CELD’s mission.
After his death in 2004, we authored a book about his life, Titan Without a Profile, published by Cory Library, Rhodes University, South Africa, in 2020.