This quote represents what the #ShiftThePower Global Summit was to me: a space to hear uncomfortable truths and to collectively reimagine solutions. When Marie-Rose Romain Murphy of …
When I landed in Bogotá, my instinct was to stop for a while and fill my lungs with air, realizing that my body, accustomed to living at sea level, felt the need to move more slowly and breathe more deeply.
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.
As global leaders met at the COP in Dubai, over 700 change-makers who work in communities in over 80 countries met in Bogotá with a focus on harnessing and mobilizing resources so that all may thrive, even in the midst of the climate crisis.
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.
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.
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.
Given its nature of being an interpersonal endeavour, the human-centred mentorship process is a complex array of responsibilities that requires continuous symbiotic collaboration between mentor and mentee. It also requires a deeper holistic focus on the individual with mentee development (personal and professional) being the outcome.
At the Centre for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) in The Philippines, we have always dreamed of contributing to system change in development. But we were also conscious that persuading and encouraging those in the status quo will always be difficult as they wittingly or unwittingly contribute to perpetuating the system we seek to transform.
Canoes working together are better than boats with just one captain. The various canoes distribute power and decision-making influence in a way that creates income at scale and inclusive development. When a few people want to cross a river they might use a canoe, but if the people are many, one canoe is not enough. Community philanthropy happens when the canoe that is being used ceases to be enough. To cross the river with more people, you need connected canoes moving together and looking out for each other. This has been our guiding philosophy in Baixada Maranhense.
