RINGO Connect: September 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. 

At the Sep­tem­ber RINGO Con­nect meet­ing, we wel­comed actors from local and nation­al CSOs, net­works and move­ments, fun­ders, INGOs and inter­me­di­aries, acad­e­mia, pri­vate sec­tor and every­one in between. These ses­sions cre­ate an oppor­tu­ni­ty to break down silos and build con­nec­tions between and across sec­tors and geo­gra­phies. Below are some of the key take­aways from each of the dis­cus­sion groups:

South-South / Dias­po­ra Col­lab­o­ra­tion: How might we cre­ate more oppor­tu­ni­ties for South-South con­nec­tion, col­lab­o­ra­tion and knowl­edge shar­ing?  This group sug­gest­ed that we might cre­ate more inten­tion­al spaces as well as using exist­ing con­ven­ings to build con­nec­tions. They also dis­cussed how we can bet­ter con­nect with­in coun­tries and across sec­tors, for exam­ple on the issue of local phil­an­thropy.

Future Roles of INGOs: How might INGOs stay rel­e­vant if they are not imple­ment­ing pro­grammes and local/national organ­i­sa­tions have direct rela­tion­ships to donors?  This group explored the roles that INGOs could play as an inter­me­di­ary, and aired con­cerns about organ­i­sa­tions oper­at­ing at a nation­al lev­el com­pet­ing with local organ­i­sa­tions. They also dis­cussed the mind­set shift that is required for INGOs to trans­form, and not­ed that while the Board and CEOs should be on board, change must come from the lead­er­ship lev­el and allow plen­ty of time for inter­nal dis­cus­sions and debates about the need to change.

Cli­mate Jus­tice and Con­ser­va­tion: How might we mit­i­gate the impact of cli­mate change on the edu­ca­tion of chil­dren (e.g. floods affect­ing school infra­struc­ture and atten­dance)? Sug­ges­tions from the group include: sup­port efforts to edu­cate com­mu­ni­ties on harm­ful prac­tices that con­tribute to flood­ing (e.g. defor­esta­tion, poor waste man­age­ment and unreg­u­lat­ed con­struc­tion); pro­mote eco­nom­ic empow­er­ment mod­els that enable com­mu­ni­ties to earn liveli­hoods while prac­tis­ing con­ser­va­tion (e.g. cli­mate-smart agri­cul­ture, renew­able ener­gy enter­pris­es, eco-tourism); and iden­ti­fy sus­tain­able ways to man­age nat­ur­al resources, ensur­ing that con­ser­va­tion prac­tices go hand in hand with com­mu­ni­ty ben­e­fits.

Fund­ing: How might big­ger NGOs cede space for local organ­i­sa­tions and part­ner with them? The group dis­cussed how fun­ders should adapt their nor­ma­tives to make appli­ca­tions more open to local grass­roots organ­i­sa­tions, and how inter­me­di­ary organ­i­sa­tions could part­ner with local organ­i­sa­tions. They cit­ed fem­i­nist funds as exam­ples of fun­ders who offer dif­fer­ent lev­els of grants, even for unreg­is­tered groups, to sup­port their growth so they can apply for big­ger grants the next time. The group also explored ways that local organ­i­sa­tions could pro­file their work to local actors and enter­pris­es to engage the pri­vate sec­tor.

Pow­er and Voice: How might we chal­lenge pre­con­ceived notions in the glob­al minor­i­ty about whose voice mat­ters and where pow­er sits? This group high­light­ed dif­fer­ent inno­v­a­tive ini­tia­tives that are work­ing to move the dial on #Shift­The­P­ow­er nar­ra­tives, includ­ing a par­tic­i­pa­to­ry approach to allo­cat­ing the nation­al bud­get in Brazil, and a Comms Lab in the UK where INGOs are test­ing how they can cen­tre local­ly-led mes­sag­ing.

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