Speaking up is also an opportunity to continue the virtuous cycle of compassion for the many researchers in low income countries struggling to navigate power, decolonization and the violence of it all.
International aid as a form of reparations by former colonial powers to their former colonies has remained a popular notion amongst development enthusiasts. Particularly as calls for greater equality among foreign donors and their recipients increase, as do the brutal truths of white philanthropy and racism in the sector.
We reimagine what the world and international development would look like if we de-linked power from wealth that creates artificial barriers between communities in the Global South and North.
Some philanthropic players have spoken up against vaccine discrimination toward the Global South but most are still silent.
Over the past two years, participants in the #ShiftThePower movement have created a vibrant, living, and evolving network map of the community on the Pando platform, made up of more than 500 organizations and nearly 1,000 relationships. Originally created as a visual tool to understand both participation and representation within the #ShiftThePower community and strengthen global collaboration, the network map also offers a way to grow the movement by centering the power of relationships.
Authentic capacity does not have to be pegged against parameters, or measures that have no bearing to local realities.
The GFCF checked in with Tatiana to discuss the work of Comunlia.
Background: Dalia believes in achieving holistic development. This means our community development approach focuses on the ecological, local economy, social and cultural dimensions. As a …
The deliberate use of the hashtag #ShiftThePower was intended to provoke. Frustrations about the shortcomings of philanthropy and development aid are nothing new. However, it has always been very hard – and there have been few incentives – for those on the receiving end of aid to call out the practices and behaviours of funders and other big international players, let alone suggest that the power that they wield might be contributing to the problems that they are meant to be solving. In that sense, a truly global summit could provide a space to start such a conversation: if it was going to work, the elephant in the room – ‘the P-word’ – needed to be named loudly and incontrovertibly from the start.
These are real-life situations that are purely hurtful where the Global South organisation encounters three hurtful behavioural patterns – superiority, arrogance and dominance. In these situations, one chooses to either exercise extreme humility or risk not having funding for their organisations. These scenarios might appear normal to some organisations especially in this environment where civil society might be competing for funding or where funding is on the decline
