Donors
Donors

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.

How to lift community-led organizations in dry aid: Experiences from Kenya

From a distance the development sector looks well. Get interested. Establish a local community organization and try your luck in the “do good” sector. Write proposals. Get regrets, rejections and finally get picked. Meet all the due diligence requirements. Sign the contract. Get a few dollars. Start implementing. Write reports. Monitor. Audit. Evaluate. Write reports. Repeat.

Are funders ready for mutual accountability?

Local organizations receiving funding are, by default, expected to transparently share intimate details about themselves (When were you founded? Who is on your board? Who are your donors? What do your policies look like?… For fear of seeming difficult to work with, local organizations will not risk asking equally pertinent questions about the potential partners that they intend to collaborate with.