Join one of the many weaving conversations on the road to Bogotá!
Over the course of 2023, a number of events and discussions are being organized on the road to the #ShiftThePower Global Summit in Bogotá.
Announcing the 2023 #ShiftThePower Fellows
The #ShiftThePower Fellowship, organized by the Global Fund for Community Foundations, is excited to announce the second cohort of the Fellowship.
There’s only one thing people hate giving away more than money. Power!
But power is what it is all about. It’s the whole point of development. That’s why you can’t speak to a development professional for more than 30 seconds before the word “empowerment” pops out. The difference between humanitarian response and development is that development is not just about change; it is about sustained change.
Looking in the mirror: Personal reflections on decolonizing aid
As we undertook this work, we came to appreciate the depth of our personal conditioning as well as that of the staff, leadership, and organisations that engaged in these conversations. We became more aware of the extent to which our own personal perspectives and those of others involved in the discussions have been shaped by existing norms and practices of aid.
From Unicorn to Zebra: The transformation of ZGF
Unicorn organizations are extractive, ruthlessly competitive, and hierarchical in their relationships with others, especially local organisations, while zebras tend to have flatter structures informed by the people they serve, and they value empathy and solidarity. Unicorns speak sophisticated English and they “impress” with terms like scalability, profitability, innovation, impact, cash, burn rate, key performance indicators, and IRR (internal rate of return). Zebras don’t know those fancy words because they speak like regular people using less technical terms.
Measuring in complexity
On 9th May 2023, the Global Fund for Community Foundation hosted a meeting with Deepthy Menon in conversation with Barry Knight on Measuring What Matters. The following are extracts from the meeting repurposed into a written Q&A to extend this conversation to a wider audience.
A filantropia comunitária está mudando a mentalidade na Etiópia
Quando o primeiro-ministro Abiy Ahmed assumiu o poder na Etiópia em 2018, as esperanças no país pareciam ter se renovado. Ahmed iniciou um período de transição, prometendo reformar o estado autoritário, realizar eleições e implementar políticas de liberalização. No entanto, muitas leis restritivas permanecem em vigor e o país ainda enfrenta uma guerra civil e a violência entre diferentes comunidades ou grupos étnicos, além de abusos por parte das forças de segurança.
La philanthropie communautaire révolutionne les mentalités en Éthiopie
En 2018, lorsque le Premier ministre Abiy Ahmed est arrivé au pouvoir, l’espoir semblait renaître pour le pays lorsqu’il a entamé une période de transition en Éthiopie, promettant de réformer l’État autoritaire du pays, d’organiser des élections et de mettre en œuvre certaines politiques de libéralisation. Son prédécesseur, le Premier ministre Hailemariam Desalegn, avait démissionné face à des manifestations de masse. Cependant, l’Éthiopie reste aujourd’hui en proie à la guerre civile et à la violence intercommunautaire, les abus des forces de sécurité et les violations des droits de la défense sont encore fréquents, et de nombreuses lois restrictives restent en vigueur.
Community philanthropy changes mindsets in Ethiopia
In 2018 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came into power, there seemed to be renewed hope for the country when he set off a transitional period in Ethiopia, promising to reform the country’s authoritarian state, holding elections, and implementing some liberalization policies. His predecessor, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, had resigned in the face of mass protests. However, today Ethiopia remains beset by civil war and intercommunal violence, abuses by security forces and violations of due process are still common, and many restrictive laws remain in force.
Reflections on rooting collective care in systems change
I ended 2022 with a health scare and I have spent the majority of 2023 so far preoccupied with the notion of collective care and solidarity in movement building. As part of my exploration, I have been reading Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey where she argues that rest should be a form of radical political resistance and that “To uplift rest from a community care ethic is to interrupt the dominant culture while giving power back to the people where it belongs.”