North is due a change in direction

Dinah Musindarwezo, Director of Policy and Communications at Womankind Worldwide, reflects on the launch of a new Gender and Development Network (GADN) learning paper.

GADN’s What is the role of Northern organisations in global justice advocacy? report, as a critical reflection and a plan of action for Northern-based organisations on their role in global justice advocacy, is long overdue.

Drawing on contributions from more than 30 advocates around the world – myself included – it identifies the dilemmas that often accompany ‘Global North power and privilege’ and explores how many organisations may be compounding existing power inequalities.

The paper suggests improvements, recognising and challenging power dynamics and colonial legacies, and, more fundamentally, identifies their duty to challenge ongoing global injustices.

The learning paper launch earlier in December was an opportunity for me to address the wider GADN membership, including staff from UK-based organisations working on gender equality and women’s rights issues, and give some key reflections on their roles, responsibilities and red lines when it comes to Southern-led feminist advocacy.

The paper identifies two critical roles for organisations in the Global North: to challenge [Northern] governments and corporations and to redistribute resources back to the Global South.

CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO

I completely agree that the role of Northern organisations in challenging their governments is vital. As taxpayers and voters, citizens of Global North nations have the firm footing they need to do this with at least the same level of boldness and courage that is often expected of Southern partners with their own governments.

Northern organisations must be willing to purposefully advocate on issues that challenge the status quo, the power imbalances and stark inequalities that still exist between the North and South.

A prime example might be advocacy for structural and systematic changes to transform global governance and financial architecture: there must be no fear in advocating on issues of illicit financial flows and tax abuse, debt issues, COVID-19 vaccine justice and climate justice.

Northern corporations must also be held accountable. This can only happen if there are legally binding treaties or laws that allow governments and international institutions such as the United Nations to do so. I join other Civil Society actors especially Feminists for Binding Treaty to call on Northern organisations to rally behind this and advocate with their governments to support the UN’s Binding International Treaty on Business and Human Rights.

QUALITY FUNDING DIRECT TO THE GLOBAL SOUTH

When it comes to redistributing resources, I agree there is a role for Northern organisations, including the Organisation I work for – Womankind Worldwide, to mobilise resources in the countries where they are based and share these with partners in the Global South.

However, Northern NGOs must avoid competing for resources with Southern NGOs or seeking to act as intermediaries. Instead, they should be advocating with donors, including their own governments, to directly fund organisations in the Global South.

This must include advocating for quality funding – core, long-term, adequate, accessible and flexible, with fewer complex restrictions and requirements around proposals, such as log frames and theories of change, less reporting and fewer monitoring, evaluation and learning processes.

THINGS TO DO BETTER & THINGS TO AVOID:

Every organisation has its own unique experiences of bridging the Global North-South development divide. Along the way, you learn things you could do better and some of the practical things to avoid in working with Southern-based organisations.

Northern organisations should be good allies for their Southern counterparts in movement building, sharing power and sharing the work equitably.

Share the risks too. Organisations in the Global North should be brave in speaking out on hard issues even when it is not favourable or comfortable for them to do so.

They should treat Southern partners as the experts they are. They are not case studies for our curiosity, so acknowledge their experience, insight and value and reference their work. Say their names.

Don’t frame Southern organisations as lacking in capacity or in need of capacity-building from Northern organisations.

Using Southern partners simply to attract funds is also a definite red line. These funds are often not shared equally or used for the priorities of the Southern organisations. Organisations in the Global South are not extensions of your projects, so do not make them simply ‘implementers’ of projects you designed, without their input or consideration of their own mission and objectives

We must guard against using Southern organisations essentially as free labour, through endless consultations, interviews, Zoom calls and the filling in of surveys. Time, experience and expertise spent on these requests should be well compensated.

Finally, Northern organisations must move away from a charity mentality and ‘poverty porn’ in narrative and imagery in their fundraising products and other communications materials and instead work with southern partners to build stories of hope.

Some of the northern Organisations have already embarked on the journey of transforming power relations and their ways of working to bring about global justice. I believe with courage, willingness to learn and unlearn we can all do better. Good intentions are always there- It is now time to put them in practice

Dinah Musindarwezo is  Director of Policy and Communications at Womankind Worldwide, she is an African feminist, gender and development expert with experience in policy analysis, advocacy and influencing, organisational and community development, resource mobilisation and coalition building. Dinah is passionate about transforming structural power relations, gender equality, women’s and girls’ human rights and justice for all.

Gender and Development Network GADN is an influential network of UK-based NGOs and leading experts working with partners worldwide to put gender equality and women’s rights at the heart of international development.