The Power Shift: Decolonising Development

In this week’s episode, we talk to Jonathan Glennie, co-founder of Global Nation, about the insufficiency of global aid as a response to current global affairs. Jonathan introduces the idea of ‘global public investment’ in order to address aid reliance through a new form of accountability. We also talk about circular cooperation as a system in which all entities involved respond to the possibility of learning from each other. Jonathan speaks about the importance of dignity, listening, and ownership in aid projects, which are often overlooked in favour of material impact and development indicators. He advocates for “development with dignity”. Jonathan Glennie is a writer, researcher, campaigner and consultant on sustainable development, inequality and poverty. He recently co-founded a new thinktank, Global Nation, which recently published a report on global solidarity. His work examines the changing nature of international cooperation, as dominant paradigms and global economic relationships evolve. Jonathan has held senior positions in several international organisations, including Ipsos, Save the Children, ODI and Christian Aid and helped set up The Guardian‘s Global Development website, for which he was a regular columnist. As a consultant, he has worked with governments, international agencies and civil society organisations as they renew their strategies for a new era. Jonathan’s latest book, The Future of Aid: Global Public Investment, was published by Routledge in 2021. He lives with his family in Colombia. If you’re interested to find out more about Jonathan’s work, take a look here: LinkedInTwitterGlobal NationRecent work: Global Nation (2023) Global Solidarity Report 2023Global Public Investment Network (2023) Time for Global Public InvestmentGlennie, J. (2020) The Future of Aid, Routledge.Glennie, J. (2010) The Trouble with Aid, Zed Books.Relevant links: Damluji, H. (2021) The Responsible Globalist, Penguin Books.Sen, A. (2000) Development as Freedom, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Shift the Power Global SummitAnderson, Mary B., Dayna Brown, and Isabella Jean (2012) Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of International Aid. Cambridge, MA: CDA Collaborative Learning Projects.ID Insight (2021) The Dignity Report.

In this week’s episode, we speak to Yacine Ait Larbi about the critique he and Sarah Edgcumbe present in a two-part blog on paid-for development research. They outline the competing expectations of consulting companies who often value quick and relevant research outputs over research that is in-depth, reliable, well-grounded and ethical, due - in part - to time and resource pressures. We speak about development research being interest-driven rather than values-driven, and the consequences this has on ‘local’ research teams, the communities in which research is conducted and the way in which research findings are disseminated. Yacine talks about the clash of cultures between donor research agendas and community needs, where donor research often reproduces power dynamics and enacts epistemic violence. Yacine Ait Larbi is a Ph.D. Candidate and a member of the Political Sociology program group at the AISSR of the University of Amsterdam. With over five years of experience in migration research, he has collaborated with international organisations like IOM and engaged in short consultancies. His research spans return and reintegration, forced displacement, and labour migration in various regions including France, North Africa, and the East and Horn of Africa. Yacine is passionate about discussions on decolonization, post-colonial migration, and social transformation. Additionally, Yacine provides part-time operational and logistical support for project management at ODI. Over the past year and a half, he has contributed to projects totaling £3.9 million in funding by organisations such as SIDA Mali, AFD, GIZ, and the African Development Bank. Find out more about Yacine’s work, here: Yacine’s research profileTwitterLinkedInRelevant resources: Development for profit: The commercialisation of research?Development for Profit: Rethinking Research Practice

In this week’s episode, Ajoy Datta talks to us about organisational change, leadership development, and policy, advocacy and influencing. Ajoy tells us about promoting change within an organisation with a focus on difference and diversity. He focuses on an “unconventional” approach which highlights the complexity in working relationships and makes space for emotions. Working alongside people to unlock their knowledge and transform their conversations is part of the action learning approach for organisational change that Ajoy speaks about. When thinking about decoloniality, this approach means interrogating the ways in which coloniality is being reproduced in daily life. Ajoy is a freelance consultant specialising in two areas: The first is organisational change and leadership development: Here he works with leaders, teams, organisations and networks taking an approach which combines psychodynamics, systems and complexity. The second is policy advocacy or influencing. Here he informs, designs and evaluates work to influence policy and practice drawing on studies of the policy process, political economy approaches and outcome mapping. If you’re interested to find out more about Ajoy’s work, take a look here: www.ajoydatta.comLinkedinTwitterSubstackMediumOTT ResearchgateRelevant resources: mediumwordpressComplexity and Management Centrehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dedVszDI9aEDoing DevelopmentDifferentlyThinking and Working Politicallyhttps://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/yjfem4&div=6&id=&page=https://tavistockconsulting.co.uk/approach-systems-psychodynamic-thinking/https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rewire-Approach-Tackling-Diversity-Difference/dp/1472913981

In this week’s episode, we speak to Nancy Kankam Kusi from West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) about their focus on advocacy, influencing, and facilitating an enabling environment for civil society organisations across West Africa and beyond. Nancy talks to us about the importance of knowledge sharing on issues of decolonisation and localisation, and how WACSI facilitates spaces for fruitful discussions across the sector. The Decolonising Advisory Community at WACSI provides support to organisations in the Global South in decolonising their practice. They focus on community building and shared learning in order to come up with collective strategies to reimagine the role of INGOs and influence policy in the long term. Nancy Kankam Kusi is Program Officer of Knowledge Management at the West African Civil Society Institute in Ghana. Nancy also leads a diverse team of civil society actors to initiate and implement international development programs that promote community philanthropy, shifting power and resources to the grassroots, localising and decolonising development initiatives in the Global South. She's also a member of the RINGO Project and the initiator of the Decolonising Advisory Community. If you’re interested to find out more about Nancy’s work, take a look here: LinkedInhereherehereinfo@wacsi.orghereinnovationFunders action podINGO board action podRelevant resources: Pledge for Change (Adeso)Participatory Grant-Making: Transform Trade in Alliance MagazineUganda National NGO ForumA Red Cross Red Crescent guide to community engagement and accountabilityGlobal Fund for Community FoundationsDecolonisation of aid in francophone sub-SaharanLocalisation agenda

In this week’s episode, Alba Murcia and Kate Bird (The Development Hub) explore the findings from their research paper on feminist organising and decolonial initiatives. We talk about the work that feminist organising has developed in terms of understanding power and positionality, adopting an intersectional approach, and embracing diverse knowledges and value systems. The paper features thematic case studies which focus on bodily autonomy, land rights, and territorial integrity across the Majority World. We also highlight feminist organisations which are engaging in anti-racist and decolonial strategies, such as Womankind Worldwide, CREA and IWRAW AP. We discuss the importance of valuing diverse voices, questioning whose voice is in the room, and working at the community level to articulate power. Alba Murcia is a Consultant at the Development Hub. She is interested in the intersection of decolonial feminism and resistance in Latin America, with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Kate Bird is Director of The Development Hub, Professor of Practice at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Surrey, Senior Research Associate with ODI and Associate with the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network. She brings over 25 years experience to her work designing and leading multidisciplinary research, training and advisory work. If you’re interested to find out more about their work, take a look here: Alba Murcia LinkedInKate Bird LinkedInThe Development Hub LinkedInThe Development HubRecent work: The Development Hub (2023) Challenging global power asymmetries: Insights from feminist organising for decolonisation initiatives

In this week’s episode, Nompilo Ndlovu and Kate Bird, co-conveners of The Development Hub’s Skill Share Programme, reflect on their journeys so far within The Development Hub. We discuss the lessons learned from the 5-day immersion programme, and highlight the depth of discussions and diversity of shared experiences throughout the sessions. We also reflect on the reasons behind the majority of participants being women from the minority world, and how to address this disparity for future programmes. We talk about the launch of the Skill Share Programme, which begins next Monday February 19th, and will provide participants with 6 weeks of structured content on personal transformation, working together across international teams, partnerships and organisational change, and finally, ecosystem transformation. Stay tuned for the following run of the programme! Kate Bird is Director of The Development Hub, Professor of Practice at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Surrey, Senior Research Associate with ODI and Associate with the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network. She brings over 25 years experience to her work designing and leading multidisciplinary research, training and advisory work. Dr. Nompilo Ndlovu is a Senior Associate at The Development Hub. She is a gender expert and specialist in marginalisation, exclusion and intersecting inequalities. She is an oral historian with over 10 years’ experience applying gender frameworks to her work with communities in South Africa, and elsewhere in Africa. Her Ph.D. (Historical Studies) focused on mass violence, memory and local transitional justice initiatives in post-colonial Zimbabwe. Her wider research interests include socio-economic-political relations (with a focus on exclusion and marginalisation), conflict, peace, trauma, restorative justice and leadership. If you’re interested to find out more about their work, take a look here: Kate Bird LinkedInNompilo Ndlovu LinkedInThe Development Hub LinkedInThe Development HubSkill Share ProgrammeRecent work: Challenging global power asymmetries: Insights from feminist organising for decolonisation initiatives

In this week’s episode, we talk to Kate Newman, INTRAC CEO, about the organisation’s shift in order to respond to the changes happening in the international development sector. She talks of realising that rather than exclusively responding to each organisation’s needs, they realised they could be more impactful by taking on an ecosystem approach. INTRAC’s goal is to build a network of ethical values-driven consultants, where local context and lived experience is prioritised. This strengthens civil society and promotes locally-led development, as well as empowering consultants within their work. Kate also speaks about understanding decolonisation as a verb, as well as a commitment to processes of critical reflection, learning and unlearning. Kate has worked in international development for over 25 years, as part of local civil society in Mexico, for large international NGOs (ActionAid and Christian Aid), as an independent consultant and an academic; she joined INTRAC as CEO in April 2022. Throughout all these roles she has championed the importance of participatory and rights-based approaches; focused on understanding and shifting power, listening to, and learning from the knowledge, insights, perspectives and aspirations of people living in poverty, collaborating to ensure these knowledges are influential for development policy and practice. She describes herself as a feminist and anti-racist and works to ensure her leadership approach builds from these commitments. If you’re interested to find out more about Kate’s work, take a look here: FacebookTwitter / XINTRAC LinkedInKate’s LinkedInRelevant resources: Kate’s INTRAC staff profileA reflection on 2023 from the Chief ExecutiveDecolonising consultancy: framing the discussionBlog on ethical and values driven consultancyDecolonising consultancy – panel event

In this week’s episode, we talk to Allan Moolman, a South Africa-based staff member of a leading INGO, who tells us about his organisation's development of a decolonial partnership strategy. We focus on the power relations present in language, resource allocation, and local decision-making. The decolonial partnership strategy questions the internal power structures present within its organisational structure and procedures, as well as externally looks at relationships with the partners who locally deliver projects. Allan Moolman understands decolonial practice as “a way of being in the world”, rather than a goal to complete and move on. He emphasises the importance of community, building space to engage new ideas, and questioning language hierarchies in development projects. Allan is currently the Interim Head of Partnerships for Oxfam GB with the responsibility for the implementation of the Oxfam GB decolonial Partnerships Strategy. He has worked for Oxfam since 2007 in a number of roles including that of Country Director in South Africa (his country of origin) and as Head of Programme is Tanzania. Prior to joining Oxfam, Allan worked in a number of local non-governmental and community based organisations in South Africa. Allan’s work in programme design, management and strategy has always included a strong emphasis on power and the need to transform power relations at the interpersonal, organisational and sectoral level. He holds no formal qualifications in development. If you’re interested to find out more about Allan’s work, take a look here: LinkedInX (Twitter)Relevant resources: Decolonize! what does it mean?How to decolonise International Development: some practical suggestions Inclusive Language Guidehttps://www.mstbrazil.org/content/what-mst

In this week’s episode, Asif Saleh speaks about BRAC as an INGO based in Bangladesh, which delves into understanding the underlying structural causes of poverty. Their work has focused on addressing the most pressing issues in a way that generates long-term stability. Asif talks about circular learning and flows of knowledge which disrupt Global South/Global North dynamics. BRAC emphasises the scalability of models so that they can be applied to a variety of contexts focused on keeping costs low and engaging the community. We discuss the need to build capacity of Southern-based organisations, especially for climate change adaptation. Asif Saleh is the Executive Director of BRAC. He brings a multi-sectoral experience in senior leadership roles in private, public, and non-government arenas, with a proven track record of effectively managing development programming, operational and financial sustainability, and building effective partnerships. Prior to joining BRAC, he was a policy specialist for the Prime Minister’s Office’s Access to Information (A2i) programme. He spent 12 years in Goldman Sachs in different fin-tech roles and institutional client sales in New York and London, ending his term there as an Executive Director. He has also worked in Glaxo Wellcome, IBM and Nortel. He is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. Mr Saleh chairs BRAC IT Services Limited, co-chairs BRAC Net, and is on the Board of BRAC Bank, bKash and edotco Bangladesh Ltd. He was recognised for his work by Asia Society’s Asia 21 programme in 2008, the Bangladeshi American Foundation in 2007, and was selected as an Asia 21 Fellow in 2012. He was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2013. Mr Saleh holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and an MBA from the Stern School of Business, New York University. If you’re interested to find out more about Asif’s work, take a look here: BRAC: FacebookXYoutubeInstagramLinkedInAsif Saleh: FacebookLinkedInXRelevant work: BRAC Ultra Poor Graduation InitiativeHow are people adapting to survive at the climate frontlines? | On the ground with Asif Saleh | BRACRecommended resources: Development needs to change. Bangladesh can show us how“There was always that hunger and craving that I wanted to do something that was good for the soul.”“We are not just dreaming of a better world – we are building it” Asif Saleh on BRAC’s 50thWe Need to Think Differently About Responding to DisplacementShifting the power: why development dynamics need to change

In this week’s episode, Edgar Villanueva tells us about his book Decolonising Wealth, which was written in an effort to disrupt the flow of capital and to liberate resources for marginalised communities. Edgar tells us about how indigenous worldviews can contribute to community healing and to repairing the harms caused by the philanthropic sector. We also talk about a framework called Repair to Philanthropy, where money reparations work to re-dress the harms inflicted on communities. Edgar links the indigenous and Black struggles for racial and economic justice, and includes them in his approach to healing and reparations. Edgar Villanueva (Lumbee) is an award-winning author, activist, and expert on issues of race, wealth, and philanthropy. Villanueva is the CEO of Decolonizing Wealth Project and Liberated Capital and author of the bestselling book Decolonizing Wealth (2018, 2021). He advises a range of organizations including national and global philanthropies, Fortune 500 companies, and entertainment groups on social impact strategies to advance racial equity from within and through their investment strategies. Villanueva holds a BSPH and MHA from the Gillings Global School of Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe and resides in New York City. Publications including the New York Times, NPR, Teen Vogue, Vox, and Forbes magazine have featured Edgar and his work. Edgar has contributed to the Washington Post, the Advocate, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and more; he also shares more thoughts on racial justice, decolonization, and healing on his Medium page. If you’re interested to find out more about Edgar’s work, take a look here: https://decolonizingwealth.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/edgarv/@villanuevaedgar@decolonizwealthRecent work: Reparations campaigns get boost from new philanthropic funding, AP NewsRelevant resources: https://decolonizingwealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DWP_Toolkit_fnl2.pdf

In this week’s episode, Fredrick Ouko and Mary Ann Clements discuss ADD International’s organisational structure, especially their roles as co-CEOs and how representation matters. They tell us about modelling the team leadership in line with the lived experiences they want to represent and advocate for. Through participatory grantmaking, they challenge the “colonisation of resources”, through which international funding goes mainly towards INGOs, rather than organisations of people with disabilities. Fredrick and Mary Ann reflect on their personal roles as co-CEOs of ADD, and how their particular identities affect their working relationship. They also tell us about being conscious of ADD’s role as a ‘facilitator’ of participatory grant-making, rather than an ‘implementer’ of programs. Fredrick Ouko is the Co-Chief Executive & Transformation Officer at ADD International. He is co-leading their work to become a participatory grant maker. Fredrick has worked to advance disability rights for the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa, and Light for the World Netherlands. He founded Action Network for the Disabled, a national disabled people’s organization in Kenya, and Riziki Source, a social enterprise using tech to improve employment access for disabled people. He is an Atlantic Fellow, was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2012, and was shortlisted in 2016/2017 for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovations. Mary Ann Clements is the Co-Chief Executive & Transformation Officer at ADD International. She is a Feminist Writer, Facilitator, Activist & Coach committed to building a better world together without replicating patterns of injustice. Mary Ann co-convenes the Healing Solidarity, and her Embodying Change Coaching practice which centres a genuine solidarity that is focused on healing injustice.Previously, Mary Ann has worked as Executive Director at Able Child Africa, Regional Representative Basic Needs (East Africa), Chair of Lambeth Women’s Aid, and Assessor at Comic Relief. If you’re interested to find out more about ADD’s work, take a look here: ADD websiteADD information about becoming a participatory grant-maker@maryannmhina@FredrickOuko1Mary Ann LinkedInFredrick LinkedInRecent work: Fredrick's blogMary Ann websiteRelevant resources: Participatory GrantmakersFund 101: Intro to Participatory Grant-MakingShifting Power through Transformation - ADDFunding Disability Movement - ADDRINGO Re-Imagining the INGO

In this week’s episode, Sarah Rose introduces us to USAID’s approach to localisation as one of the biggest funding partners amongst bilateral donors. Sarah emphasises the importance of gathering the entire global development community in order to rethink roles and reform practices for localisation to be effective. Sarah talks us through USAID’s journey towards localisation, their time-bound measurable goals, and how to integrate localisation into every aspect of USAID’s work portfolio. USAID is working to tackle barriers to funding, by integrating multiple languages, reducing reporting burdens and risk assessment requirements. We talk about how USAID can think about strengthening their own capacity as an organisation to adapt to localisation efforts and integrate learnings from the Global South or majority world. Sarah emphasises the importance of establishing a “community of practice” amongst USAID to share guidance and support. Sarah Rose is the Senior Advisor for Localization in the Office of the USAID Administrator. Prior to coming to USAID, she was a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, where her research focused on US development policy and aid effectiveness, including localization. Previously, Sarah was a monitoring and evaluation specialist in the health office of the USAID Mission in Mozambique. She also worked at the Millennium Challenge Corporation in the Department of Policy and Evaluation. If you’re interested to find out more about Sarah’s work, take a look here: LinkedInTwitterlocalization webpageRelevant resources: inclusive development webpageMoving Toward a Model of Locally Led Development: FY 2022 Localization Progress ReportLocalisation at USAID: The Vision and ApproachLocal Capacity Strengthening PolicyWorkWithUSAID.org

In this week’s episode, Heather Grady from Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors (RPA) and Tanya Beer, an independent consultant, present the Shifting Systems Initiative Evaluation. The evaluation explores what systems change means to the philanthropic and funding sector, and evaluates the contribution of the Shifting Systems Initiative to the sector. Our discussion examines systems change practically, and explores alternative entry points such as ‘doing the inner work’, working together, implementing intersectional systems thinking, and trusting in order to cede control and take risks. Heather and Tanya bring up the fact that thinking about race and systems change is often given low priority and is grossly underfunded. This limits effective action, confirming the perception that systems change and anti-racist action are an inefficient use of philanthropic organisations’ time and resources. We discuss how to move past this blockage into identifying entry points for practical action. Heather proposes longer-term, more adaptive and responsive funding as a solution that would benefit both the grantees and the funders, who can free up resources and time. Tanya suggests adapting the risk framework so that a lack of systems of change is perceived as the real risk. Heather Grady is Vice President at Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors, RPA, and leads the practice area of Environment and Climate Change. She co-founded and leads the Shifting Systems Initiative as part of her work with RPA. Tanya Beer is an independent consultant. She focuses on strategic learning facilitation for organisations and collaboratives. She's co-author of the evaluation of the Shifting Systems Initiative. Before going freelance, Tanya was Associate Director of the Center for Evaluation Innovation, which pushes evaluation practices in new directions and into areas that are hard to measure, such as advocacy, communications and systems change. If you’re interested to find out more about their work, take a look here: Heather Grady LinkedInTanya Beer LinkedInHeather Grady X (Twitter)Tanya Beer X (Twitter)Rockefeller Philanthropy AdvisorsCentre for Evaluation InnovationRelevant resources: Shifting Systems InitiativeEvaluation of Shifting Systems InitativeEdwin Ou - Skoll Foundation

In this week’s episode, Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi from African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) de-centres the focus on racism and colonialism, and instead brings attention to the range of power dynamics present in the development and humanitarian ecosystems, including gender, class, and the historical origins of certain organisations. Mavis discusses the institutional sustainability of Global South-based organisations where they are often not considered the first choice by either Global North organisations or Africa-based governments and national partners, despite their considerable capacity. She describes the transformative approach ACET is implementing, through which African institutions work together to grow capacity in tendering and contract delivery, thereby strengthening the network of Think Tanks across the continent. By doing this, they are demonstrating agency and flipping the narrative on the decolonisation and localisation agenda, which has been historically driven by the Global North. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi is Executive Vice President of African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET). Mavis oversees ACET’s strategy and leadership, and is responsible for ensuring the organisation is respected as a robust pan-African economic policy institute. Mavis has built a distinguished career over 25 years in international development. Born in Ghana, she is a political economist by training and a private sector development specialist. She previously worked at the UK Department for International Development (DFID), where she led the creation and implementation of DFID’s first private sector development strategies in a number of countries. More recently, she worked as the Director of Program Policy at Save the Children. In 2016, she joined a newly established NGO, the Power of Nutrition, as its Director of Investments, overseeing rapid growth across a dozen African and Asian countries. She holds an MPhil from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, and an MPhil in Development Studies (Economics and Political Economy Analysis). Mavis is a member of the Board of Directors for Results for Development and Sightsavers International and an Independent Member of the Strategic Coherence of ODA Funded Research (SCOR) Board. If you’re interested to find out more about Mavis’ work, take a look here: LinkedInTwitterACET websiteRelevant resources: Women's Labor Participation in Africa - A Review of Key Drivers & ChallengesDoes the Origin of Multinational Enterprises Matter? Findings from Ethiopia, Kenya, and GhanaUpgrading Technology & Improving Productivity in African FirmsHow Emerging Technology Can Boost Africa’s Green Industrial FutureThree part series on how Africa Can Benefit from Artificial IntelligenceMadam Ellen Johnson SirleafAfrica Climate Summit

In this week’s episode, Maya Hasan, founder of the Fearless Project, talks us through her Shifting Power Accelerator program. Maya approaches decolonisation from her personal experience as a ‘third culture’ individual straddling multiple identities and growing up and working across the Global South and Global North, which have facilitated her integration of an intersectional approach into her work. She introduces her training program, which takes on a participatory applied learning approach which adopts feedback into the design of the program. Through the training program, Maya attempts to challenge the hierarchical notion of a set of values or technical expertise being valued more than lived experience of a local community. Throughout the conversation, we discuss alternative funding mechanisms which put individuals from the communities being funded at the centre of decision-making panels for grants. We also delve into interpersonal relationships and how we can go about decolonizing emotions. Maya Hasan is the founder of Fearless Project, an online education start-up for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is also the facilitator of Shifting Power Accelerator, an experiential, cohort-based online course on decolonizing aid, empowering local leaders, and fostering equitable partnerships. In her 20-year career, Maya has worked across a number of roles in NGOs including partnerships, grants and research supporting civil society development in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, CAR, DRC, Myanmar, and South Sudan. Maya is Pakistani and American. She is a proud multicultural, non-binary woman, trauma survivor, and person with invisible disabilities. She speaks 10 languages and lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you’re interested to find out more about Maya, take a look here: LinkedInTwitterRecommended resources: Power Fostering Equitable North-South Civil Society Partnerships: Voices from the South (By Rights CoLab, WASCI, and the RINGO Project)Power Awareness Tool by (By Partos and The Spindle through the Shift-The-Power Lab)Nine Roles that Intermediaries Can Play in International Cooperation (Peace Direct)Funding Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking (By Candid fka GrantCraft and Foundation Center)From Promises to 10 Radical Actions (By Radical Flexibility Fund)Mapping a Sector's Global Reimagination: Pathways for Change in Philanthropy (By Vanessa Stevens for Alliance Magazine)Workshop on Community-Led Innovation using the Design Sprint MethodOrganisations FRIDAUHAI EASHRI

In this week’s episode, Dylan Mathews talks us through Peace Direct’s journey as a Global North-based peacebuilding organisation. He reflects on the pivotal moment in which Peace Direct spoke to local partners and began to actively question how structural racism is embedded into the sector. Dylan contends that there is a need for both organisations and individuals in the Global North to acknowledge that they may have benefitted from the development sector and that they have “done harm in the process of trying to help”. We discuss the fact that the majority of humanitarian funding (97%) goes to organisations in the Global North, and how this has consistently eroded the growth and capability of civil society organisations in the Global South. Dylan Mathews is CEO of Peace Direct having joined the organisation in 2015. His commitment to supporting local organisations in the global south spans almost twenty years, during which time he has worked for a range of peacebuilding, international development and humanitarian organisations. While working for the peacebuilding think tank Oxford Research Group, he authored ‘War Prevention Works’ which profiled the role of non-state actors in conflict prevention and resolution – a publication that helped launch Peace Direct in 2004. He is the editor of ‘Working with Conflict 2’ a practical toolkit for local peacebuilders, published in 2020. Dylan is the Vice Chair of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a global peacebuilding network based in Washington DC. If you’re interested to find out more about Dylan’s work, take a look here: LinkedInTwitterRecent work: Three years on from George Floyd’s murder. What have we learned?The tragedy of Ukraine and the urgency of peacebuildingRelevant resources and references: Time to Decolonise AidRace, Power, PeacebuildingNine roles that intermediaries can play in international cooperationA blog reflecting on Peace Direct's journey since publishing Race, Power and Peacebuilding Robert Chambers

Lena Bheeroo (Bond) introduces us to Bond’s Anti-racism and Decolonising Framework and the wider work she’s done in tackling racism across organisations in the development sector. Lena highlights the importance of bringing in people working at all organisational levels as part of a collective effort. Lena outlines how Bond’s framework maps out the process of addressing racism from a personal and professional perspective, and aims to demonstrate the interdependence of organisational structure, and therefore the need for a holistic approach. She opens up about the personal and professional costs that come with speaking up about situations of racial discrimination or injustice within organisations, and highlights how processes of decolonisation and anti-racism must involve everyone. Lena Bheeroo is an organiser, campaigner and speaker on anti-racism, addressing discrimination and creating inclusive cultures. Lena leads the anti-racism work at Bond for the UK sector and the wider decolonising sector work, working with members and global partners, initiatives and movements exploring power, privilege, and oppression. She is a co-author of the Bond Racism, power and truth: Experience of people of colour in international development report. Lena works with Board, CEOs and Senior Management to understand issues around racism, power and privilege in the international development sector. Lena is an organiser with the campaign movement CharitySoWhite which seeks to route out racism from the UK charity sector and have the charity sector lead on addressing racism. Lena is also on the working group of The Racial Equity Index, a collective of Black, Indigenous, people of colour working in international development, advocating for greater racial equity and racial justice in the sector through the creation of a racial equity accountability mechanism. If you’re interested to find out more about Lena’s work, take a look here: TwitterLinkedInRelevant resources: Anti-racism and Decolonising FrameworkMacpherson ReportRacism power and truth report: Experience of people of colour in international developmentA guide to becoming locally-led as an anti-racist practiceBond’s language guide

In this week’s episode, Priyanthi Fernando (IWRAW Asia Pacific) tells us about her ‘disruptive’ approach to the development sector by continuously asserting Global South perspectives to the work being carried out. We discuss the embedded double standards when activists and practitioners from the Global South get invited to attend events organised by elites from the Global North - but how practitioners from the Global North very rarely attend events organised and hosted in the Global South. She tells us about IWRAW’s Global South Women’s Forum, which centred the voices of women from the Global South and provided an open space for them to talk about their needs without donor constraints. Priyanthi reflects on what it means to ‘listen’ in order to design interventions which respond to real needs. Priyanthi highlights the importance of IWRAW’s global agenda which is not only anti-racist and decolonial, but also anti-patriarchal and anti-neoliberal. Priyanthi Fernando is the outgoing Executive Director of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch, Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP). IWRAW AP is a feminist organisation based in Kuala Lumpur, initiated and led by women from the Global South, and working towards the protection and fulfilment of the human rights of all women everywhere. Priyanthi has always been passionate about issues of social justice and about fighting structural inequalities relating to gender, access to technologies, and the framing of knowledge. In over three decades of working in countries as diverse as Bangladesh or Yemen, and engaging with the bilateral, multilateral and INGOs as well as with community groups, Priyanthi has continued to aim at disrupting those structures, systems and institutions that continue to perpetuate inequality and discrimination. If you’re interested to find out more about Priyanthi’s work, take a look here: LinkedInMs. Priyanthi Fernando | Department of Economic and Social AffairsRelevant resources: Whose Development? An Ethnography of AidThe Elephant in the Room: racism in representations, relationships and ritualsWill you come to my party?Making the Unheard HeardRelevant organisations & events: DAWN - Development Alternatives with Women for a New EraCommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against WomenGlobal South Women's ForumFeminists for a People’s VaccineThird World NetworkAWID - Association for Women’s Rights in DevelopmentSexual Rights Initiative

In this week’s episode, Dev Hub founder Kate Bird talks to us about power, money and accountability in international development. Kate delves into what it means to hold and exercise power and links the control of money to decision-making power. Recalling John Gaventa’s ‘visible’ and ‘hidden’ power, Kate delves into power as being dynamic, contextual and historical, and why this is relevant in the international development context. This episode is a prompt review of what is meant when power is discussed across international development, and how we can begin to address power imbalances and promote a power shift. Kate is Director of The Development Hub, Professor of Practice at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Surrey, Senior Research Associate with ODI and Associate with the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network. She brings over 25 years experience to her work designing and leading multidisciplinary research, training and advisory work. If you’re interested to find out more about Kate’s work, you can take a look at the Development Hub website. Recommended resources: John Gaventa4 Types of Power

In this week’s episode, Arbie Baguios talks us through the Anti-Racist and Decolonial Framework he has developed with Start Network, which finds that racism and colonialism are based on structural superiority. Arbie dives into how to actually tackle racism and coloniality as a systemic or structural issue and tells us about how he supports organisations in helping them recognise how they produce racist and colonial outcomes through their systems at the organisational level. Arbie emphasises that trust, bravery, and democracy are necessary and essential values when attempting any kind of organisational change towards anti-racism and decolonisation. We discuss double standards when it comes to INGOs ‘failing’ and how to reframe notions of capacity to provide space for both learning and failure. Arbie Baguios is the founder of Aid Re-imagined, an initiative that advocates for a more effective and just aid system. Previously he worked for humanitarian organisations including ActionAid, Save the Children, the Red Cross and UNICEF. Currently he is a doctoral researcher at the London School of Economics. If you’re interested to find out more about Arbie’s work, take a look here: LinkedInTwitterRelevant resources: Anti-Racist and Decolonial Framework - Start NetworkAid Re-ImaginedAid Re-Imagined Model Working PaperEmpire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism, Michael Barnett