Celebrating 50 years of international consortium for social development: Honouring our legacy, shaping our future

To celebrate the golden jubilee of the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD), this article looks at the origin, formation, and purpose of the ICSD, key leaders who led the consortium, its main activities and achievements, and prospects in the years to come. Drawing mainly on the secondary literature and the author’s reflections, the analysis affirms and appreciates that the ICSD was formed on sound grounds and the vision of the leaders who pioneered the ICSD was well thought of as the ideas of social development are increasingly relevant in the contemporary and emerging contexts. Acknowledging the leaders and members who have sustained the consortium for 50 years, it commends its three critical activities: biennial internal conferences; Social Development Issues, a flagship journal of the ICSD; and conceptualizing and theorizing social development, which has contributed to creating and spreading the knowledge of social development worldwide. It also has gradually expanded its activities through its branches. Although there are challenges to articulating its contribution to the theory and practice of social development, ICSD’s role in facilitating it, directly or indirectly, at least to some extent, cannot be denied. The article invites us to pose and ponder, whether the ICSD should have done more and or differently. It argues that such individual and collective reflections help us to envision, plan, and act together for the ICSD, fostering promising futures.