Participatory Strategy for a Global Network of Organizations • 2020
In 2020 I was invited to help facilitate a series of interviews and remote strategy conversations with a global coalition of 40+ grassroots organizations in the Children’s Care sector. The goal? To build a strategy with input and buy in from the whole network.
The international development sector is plagued with toxic colonial power dynamics and competition between actors that all want the same thing: a better world for those at the bottom.
A new wave of radically democratic organizations are trying to flip the script on the old way and build inclusive, participatory organizations and networks with the power to transform the sector at large.
But this is easier said than done. Truly democratizing organizations means having difficult conversations, facing the way we all participate in harmful dynamics, and slowing down in order to forge ahead.
In this project I interviewed about a dozen leaders from across the network, and facilitated a series of delicate strategy conversations over the course of months, which paved a new road of trust and buy-in across an imperfect but courageous network in the process of democratizing.