A short film: The rise of local philanthropy
Shortly after the pandemic, film maker Josie Fomé travelled to Uganda to shoot a documentary on the organisation, No-White-Saviours. While there, a different, more complex …
shift the power and me
How I lost my respect doing community-led work
I came into the development sector as a very passionate person. That passion drove my career from the “entry-level” to various senior roles. I rose to eventually manage one of the international organisations (INGO) as its Country Director. In this role, I was responsible for all country operations. The role came with many privileges and a lot of status. It gave me access to high-level meetings not only in Tanzania where I am based, but also at the international level. From this, I got a lot of respect, status, and access to a luxurious life.
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.
Philanthropy: What’s trust got to do with it?
One of the things I struggled with early on when I started to understand the #ShiftThePower movement was the concept of “trust”. The idea was strange to me; during discussions around the concept, I asked if it was genuinely possible to trust that an organization could do the work independently without being held to so many checks and due diligence processes.
I am neither powerless or powerful, so where is my place in #ShiftThePower?
When I first got the request to write this piece after a webinar on the challenges to #ShiftThePower I was hesitant… I was tempted to take the backseat in this discussion due to fear of saying the wrong things or taking up someone else’s space in this crucial debate.
#ShiftThePower and Me: A projector, a flip chart and how I am finding my way.
I spent more time on logical frameworks, understanding donor and back donor compliance requirements, preparing and amending contracts, reviewing budgets, writing proposals and reports – thinking that these are the important and productive tasks.
#ShiftThePower and Me: Direction, flexibility and collective action – my time leading a community foundation in Brazil
In my humble opinion, ICOM’s story is worth telling because of what we managed to achieve in terms of building a culture of giving in Florianópolis.
#ShiftThePower and Us: Reconstruction Women’s Fund
It is never just about a single issue. This simple truth shaped our politics into understanding that, for a community and the entire society to advance, we need diverse trouble-making processes that are intertwined.
#ShiftThePower and Me: Rasha Sansur
I came to see that in our dependency we had forgotten our collective dreams and our treasure trove of skills and local resources. Organizations like Dalia, and the Dalit Community Foundation, remind us that we can revive our aspirations by trusting our abilities to realize them.