RINGO Connect: October Highlights

On the last Wednes­day of every month, the RINGO Con­nect meet­ing holds a space for com­mu­ni­ty solu­tion­ing. We invite par­tic­i­pants to share a chal­lenge and draw on the exper­tise and expe­ri­ence from with­in the group to address this issue. 

Sen­ti­ments of sol­i­dar­i­ty echoed through­out the Octo­ber RINGO Con­nect meet­ing. There were calls to unite peo­ple who are mar­gin­alised from pow­er wher­ev­er they are in the world, and to break down silos between frac­tured groups to fos­ter stronger sol­i­dar­i­ty and explore the roles that we can all play — on a local and inter­na­tion­al lev­el. Dr. Moses Isoo­ba (Ugan­da Nation­al NGO Forum) shared a quote from Sur­viv­ing the Future by David Flem­ing: “Large scale prob­lems do not need large scale solu­tions, but small scale solu­tions with­in a large scale frame­work.”

Par­tic­i­pants chose to join dis­cus­sions focussed on the fol­low­ing themes:

Funding and Resource Flows

This group held dis­cus­sions focussed on three core areas relat­ing to trust. They reflect­ed how the wave of extreme right-wing anti-sol­i­dar­i­ty sen­ti­ments is influ­enc­ing both our work­ing envi­ron­ment and the fund­ing land­scape. We need to go fur­ther to find ways to make sure more actors are choos­ing trust-based ways of work­ing. The group explored new trust-based forms of sol­i­dar­i­ty and how to address the ten­sion between trust-based giv­ing and mak­ing sure you have an inclu­sive and effec­tive way of expand­ing that cir­cle of trust (that goes beyond bigger/more known organ­i­sa­tions). We also dis­cussed the need for a shift from trans­ac­tion­al to trust-based sup­port and a focus on local resource mobil­i­sa­tion, includ­ing com­mu­ni­ty phil­an­thropy.

Future Roles of INGOs

Due to the high inter­est in this theme, we cre­at­ed two dis­cus­sion groups. The first group looked at issues around nar­ra­tive, and how redefin­ing the inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment sec­tor requires a focus on inequal­i­ty as opposed to pover­ty. We also talked about con­tra­dic­tions where talk about shift­ing pow­er is not being applied in prac­tice, for exam­ple when INGOs open coun­try offices and end up in com­pe­ti­tion with local actors. We looked at pooled funds as a way for INGOs to engage local organ­i­sa­tions, an approach that the NEAR Net­work is adopt­ing in Asia/Pacific. The sec­ond group reflect­ed that while there is deep com­mit­ment to local­i­sa­tion and shift­ing the pow­er, many INGOs face a ten­sion between sur­vival and trans­for­ma­tion. Both groups iden­ti­fied a need for more oppor­tu­ni­ties to address the mind­set shift that is required in this work. 

Pow­er and Voice

This group explored how the lan­guage we use in inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment con­nects to shift­ing pow­er: both the lex­i­con we use and the dom­i­nance of Eng­lish. Much of the lex­i­con we use is colo­nial and pejo­ra­tive, as high­light­ed in this check­list of prob­lem­at­ic terms, jus­ti­fi­ca­tion and pos­si­ble replace­ments that was part of the Lan­guage pro­to­type devel­oped by the RINGO Social Lab. We talked about how to avoid jar­gon and dis­cussed how when peo­ple com­mu­ni­cate in their own lan­guage, their ideas come alive, and that AI and new tech­nol­o­gy can sup­port this. We dis­cussed pow­er dynam­ics across part­ner­ships and val­ue chains in terms of par­tic­i­pa­tion and whose voic­es are val­ued, and how a colo­nial mind­set regard­ing tim­ing and urgency can chal­lenge our efforts to shift pow­er. We recog­nised the need to trig­ger com­mu­ni­ty voice and cit­i­zen agency. 

Click here more infor­ma­tion on the RINGO Con­nect meet­ings and to find the link to join the next ses­sion