The #ShiftThePower movement – launched in Johannesburg in 2016 – has changed the course of the conversation about both philanthropy and sustainable development. But in a field that is still evolving, how far is the change in discourse in the philanthropic sector changing realities for the people and communities most affected?
This webinar heard from community philanthropists leading the way, as well as respectful funders seeking to do things differently. Both outcomes and challenges were discussed.
Moderated by News Editor Shafi Musaddique, the speakers were:
- Reham Basheer: Program Coordinator and Initiator of the Participatory Grantmaking Program, Wilde Ganzen Foundation, the Netherlands
- Nour Nussiebeh: Executive Director, Dalia Foundation, Palestine
- Yara Tlass: Director, My Homeland, Turkey
- Shereen Faraj: Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management (PLR), USAID, US
A few highlights from the event
Noor: If I could start by talking about the historical presence of philanthropy in the Palestinian community, maybe it was not historically named philanthropy – but had alternative names like solidarity, support, giving. It has been done as voluntary work for the willingness of giving. There’s a very common saying that there’s no-one who’s poor and we have all got something to give. This is the basis of why Dalia is there, because we believe it’s the importance of owning the resources that we have, and the way we can give. So we have people who can give financial support, others can give materialistic support, or mental health support. Even a smile is a support, a resource we can give. We can always share with others.
This has been the main pillar of building a cohesion within our community. But as the Palestinian community got more integrated with a global economy, this led people to being in a full salaried job, focused on their personal needs rather than the community needs. People moved away from farming, or manufacturing activity, and they lost the vision of working toward building a durable community. This is what Dalia is trying to build now, working with the communities on the ground with the support of different partners.
If we want to talk more about aid and funding in Palestine, it’s been (especially after Oslo) flooding into the Palestinian community. This has led to conditional funding, and inflexible funding, with the power of the funder to control and put their own agenda. This has actually harmed the Palestinian community much much more than giving it benefits. This has led to losing the voice of the community to know what it needs, and the priorities of the community itself.
Yara: I would love to talk about our experience with Wilde Ganzen and the very interesting program that we took part in in Turkey, with displaced refugee children. The approach introduced us to a new model as it was our first time working with a participatory grant-making approach. So it was a learning experience for us, as well as for the communities that we were working with.
It was really interesting because the whole approach was very much a more egalitarian approach – it really shifted the power to the community. The program itself was designed in a way that enabled the community to design the program and implement it, through a series of community-based consultations where different communities (all of them displaced refugees as a result of the war) would meet and discuss. They would share ideas, brainstorm, talk about their challenges and the issues that are pressing for them, and then come up with solutions that they feel are culturally appropriate to their context and their community.
What we noticed is that when we give local actors agency over the decision-making process, we noticed an increased sense of involvement and community engagement because they were very much mobilised themselves. They were the ones directly impacted by these funds, so they also wanted to prove to the funders that this was done in a way that’s transparent, successful, and efficient.
But also, I would say that Wilde Ganzen and the funders were very open and provided us with that transparent approach for us to be able to work freely with our community. I truly believe that the funders also need to have an open approach – they need to trust that the communities will be able to lead, and implement these projects successfully.
In turn, that sense of trust strengthens the relationship and builds the way for more dialogues and for more productive meaningful conversation – that can also develop the local actors’ capacity-building in return. It’s a two-way street.
Reham: For genuine impactful change, you must take that leap of faith, with complete and wholehearted trust in the lived experiences and contextual knowledge of communities and local actors. That is where we believe the expertise is unparalleled, and it’s crucial that we recognise and honour this. I think it’s about time to take a step back and shift the power completely in all decision-making processes to those who truly understand and know best. To where the power actually belongs. It’s time to take a passenger’s seat rather than a driver’s seat in this whole aspect.
I think providing necessary resources to support local leadership is quite highly required for the time being. If we are truly committed to bringing about systematic change, actual genuine change, we need to move beyond the regular charity mindset and start addressing the roots of the issues rather than trying to handle only the symptoms. Which also means that we need to adopt a justice lens, recognising and confronting systematic inequalities. And for that very specifically, I would say it’s about time to dismantle top-down approaches and reimagine innovative funding approaches – models that could actually accommodate these changes and effectively address the challenges ahead.
I think it’s the moment to make a meaningful difference by standing beside those who are at the heart of the solutions. They know best. They can do better. Especially if we would like to create a future that is defined by equity, sustainability and collaboration.
Shereen: We can all agree that it’s critical that funders share knowledge with each other, as well as with the communities that they’re working to empower. But what does that actually look like day to day?
I think we know that today’s global development and humanitarian challenges, given how vast, demanding and complex they are, are also inherently local and shaped by the unique histories, power dynamics and other factors specific to each context. We’ve really been making a shift at USAID to redouble our commitment to shifting funding and decision-making power to the people, organisations and institutions that are driving change in their own countries and communities.
I think it’s important to note that this is not a new effort for the development community. As an international community, we’ve made similar commitments in the past. But there’s a distinction here that I want to acknowledge today, which is that the imperative of locally-lead development has gained new resonance over the last few years. We recognise that not only is local ownership of goals and processes critical for effective and sustained progress – it is a more equitable approach, that recognises and celebrates the knowledge and perspectives of those leading change in their own countries and communities.
So in short, it means we have to do aid differently. That’s why funders around the world are redoubling their commitments and taking steps to move them forward.
You can watch the full video here:
Comments (1)
We’re specifically interested in those initiatives that sought progressive changes, in the sense of expanding people’s freedoms and capacities to live the lives they want. People are yearning for community. They realize its absence. And that is one of the basic drivers of the power of the community movement ... That is going to return us to and rebuildcommunity. It's a beautiful thing. It's what people's hearts are longing for – almost anything #CommunityFuture #DecadeHealthyAgeing