For a long time, details governing the flow of resources from OECD DAC members to Global South CSOs have been “buried” in layers of paperwork and technical language in a manner that has been opaque and difficult to grasp. However, our analysis of DAC member aid flows reveals systemic imbalances in the distribution of Official development assistance
A poem by Sugarbird:
When all the acronyms fade away and the jargon moves to the periphery
All that remains true are the strands we call community.
Decades of debate and research of the factors that enable communities to act.
Have you heard of imaginal cells? This is what Amaha Selassie asked us as we sat in the jungle-themed hotel lobby. It was the night after the #ShiftThePower Summit in Bogotá, and 5 of us had come together seemingly by accident, talking for hours about the worlds of possibility and complexity that the Summit had unlocked. None of us knew about these cells, so Amaha explained
Recognizing that no single person has capacity to take on the whole system, incremental change in multiple different places can be powerful.
Hope is a strategy, and we need to practice what we preach.
Funding into communities is important, but what if unlocking local energy is our most powerful resource of all?
When someone asks you to introduce yourself, what’s the first thing you think of? For me it’s “Hi, I’m Yande the Power Shifting Director at Restless Development…” and the rest follows. Who are we without the values that shape us and follow us in our vocational day jobs?
Mientras los líderes mundiales se reunían en la COP de Dubai, más de 700 agentes de cambio que trabajan en comunidades de más de 80 países se reunieron en Bogotá con el objetivo de aprovechar y movilizar recursos para que todos puedan prosperar, incluso en medio de la crisis climática.
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.
Are you involved in exciting, trailblazing and experimental grassroots or community-led work? Are you interested in being part of broader efforts to shift power and build the (civil) society we want by helping to connect the dots between innovative and emergent practices around the world? Do you want to dig into questions of “systems change” in international philanthropy and development aid with other like-minded peers? Are you interested in connecting with others like you around the world, both to learn and share, but also to strengthen the collective voice and muscle of local actors? If this sounds like you, then read on!
