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reforming international development
‘This has to be a wake-up call’: Final warning for philanthropy and civil society
The title of this article is a direct quotation from Hanna Surmatz, Head of Policy at Philea, who warned about the consequences of the June 2024 EU elections: ‘The anti-democratic and anti-EU forces are gaining …
It’s time for funders to step up, stand with, and support those seeding change
The H&S Davidson Trust (HSDT) was founded in 2004 to help transform the lives of very low-income families, especially women and girls. In pursuit of this aim, our past work has focused on empowerment and …
GDP growth is not the answer…
At the recent Global Inclusive Growth summit hosted by the Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth, we heard how gender inequality is bad for growth and leaves ‘trillions on the table instead of catapulting gross domestic …
We can’t hashtag our way to change
In developing Healing Solidarity in 2018, I was trying to reignite conversations about re-imagining ‘development’ which had been happening for decades. At the time, I was amazed by the 1500 e-responses and took it as …
Transgender Day of Visibility: Nourishing community to challenge backlash
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson tells us, ‘strong communities are born out of individuals being their best selves.’ Yet we’re forced to operate in a system which exerts control by compartmentalising, and a nonprofit industrial complex geared …
Loop’s hibernation needs to be a wake-up call
‘It’s a frustrating reality that while we advocate for systems change, vested interests often act as gatekeepers, perpetuating the very structures we aim to dismantle.’ This was a comment posted on LinkedIn from Adeso’s Dawit …
The change is now – but how?
After 18 months of work with the H & S Davidson Trust on its Reforming International Development programme, it is clear that the system is broken. As the world drifts towards ever more violent conflict, …
Power does not shift easily
The call to shift power and change how INGOs operate is at least a generation old. Yet little progress has been made. There will be many reasons for this but perhaps the simplest explanation is …
Why it’s time to flip the knowledge hierarchy and disperse power.
Having spent most of my professional life in Perú’s non-profit sector, I have seen many behaviours and patterns that have prioritised and perpetuated the knowledge of power holders – mostly international donors – over community …
It’s time to decolonise philanthropy, are you ready to join the struggle?
Set up in 1943 and currently occupied by nearly 10,000 Palestinian refugees, the Shatila refugee camp in South Beirut displays a telling piece of wall art. It merges the Aboriginal and Palestinian flags with a …
