International media and aid agencies have too often taken people’s voices and used them to promote their own agendas. This has to change, writes Misozi Tembo.
Compliance for INGO partners is riddled with colonial attitudes: here’s how that can change…
As international NGOs, we need to stop assuming partners are risky, respect local standards, accept we should prove ourselves as much as partners do, and slash the form-filling, says Oxfam compliance advisor Dominic Vickers. In fact, how about encouraging partners to apply for funds by video?
How can we prevent future hunger in Somalia? Start by empowering Somalis themselves
The news that over eight million Somalis are set to be in hunger crisis next year must trigger massive prevention efforts, alongside the emergency response, says Abdiaziz Adani of Oxfam in Somalia. And central to effective prevention is unlocking the huge potential of local organisations to build famine resilience.
INGOs must share data and power with local partners – but that doesn’t mean dumping privacy risks onto them
In the future, more smaller, local aid organisations will be involved in collecting data – but their international partners must not forget they still have important ethical and legal duties when it comes to privacy, says Lori Roussey
In so many places, women’s mental health has been neglected for too long. Here’s how we’re working with communities to change that
In a blog for World Mental Health Day, Julian Kosh looks at a pilot project to support survivors of abuse, trauma and cancer in Kenya and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. At its core is a ‘flexible funding’ approach that gives women’s rights organisations the freedom to test new approaches to mental health in the ways they think best
Refugees want a real say in decisions shaping their lives: here’s how that could happen…
Anila Noor on what refugee-led organisations are looking for in the run-up to next year’s crucial Global Refugee Forum – and top of the list is enough seats at the table
The high price of lowballing local organisations
There’s a glaring missing piece in the funding of humanitarian organisations like ours, says Hero Anwar: the overheads and indirect costs essential to our survival
Locked out. What do local leaders say about reforming the humanitarian system?
Amy Croome reports back on a very different kind of discussion on shifting power and resources – one led by local activists and organisations
This is our story of natural disaster – and, for once, it’s told entirely by us
None of the roles in a powerful recent film about South Pacific islanders reacting to a cyclone is played by a professional actor, says Oxfam’s Ernest Ta’asi. Instead, the actors and script writers all came from the island community – in what may be a game-changer for NGO storytelling
What do small women’s rights organisations want from INGO funders? Less red tape and a seat at the table
In the first of a series of blogs for International Women’s Day, Laura Norman and Mona Mehta set out three things women’s rights organisations want from international NGOs – and how Oxfam is responding with an innovative fund that aims to give women activists real power to do what’s best for their communities