How a new approach to monitoring and evaluation can make sense of complex projects Building the foundation for results, sense-making and learning ‘Demonstrating real world impact can be an elusive holy grail for most NGO programme monitoring. Collaboration with Sophoi to develop the #BuildingLife RSL system has taken us a big step forward in our journey to achieving that.’ The more we draw from evidence and experience, the better we can understand and refine our …

There has been a highly successful public relations campaign by the porn industry to dissociate itself from other aspects of the commercial sex industry, especially trafficking and prostitution. The goal of creating this (false) distinction is to legitimize the pornography industry as a law-abiding enterprise that is not only respectable but even glamorous and empowering for women. This disguises what it really is: filmed prostitution that is often coercive and abusive for the female performers, …

When entrepreneur Yvonne Field, founder of the Ubele Initiative, told me where her grounding as an activist came from, two things stood out. First, she learned from her elders, like campaigner Mavis Best, and she was involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Through this, Yvonne discovered, among many things, the importance of communities taking the lead, sacrifice, laughter and joy, and belief. Imagine if institutional philanthropy (charitable trusts, corporate foundations, etc.) adopted similar principles. Imagine if …

For the first time in 16 years, the amount donated to organizations in Turkey, including CSOs, surpassed all other donations, according to the results of the Individual Giving and Philanthropy in Turkey 2021 Report. This is major change is telling – but it also brings an important question to the table: how do we transform this change into a consistent choice? Individual giving has always been an important part of the philanthropic practices in Turkey, …