What’s the best prescription for achieving the SDG’s? For international NGOs and funders to cede power and control over decision-making to the constituents they aim to serve. That’s the conclusion of a prototype trial on participatory grant-making (PGM) undertaken through the RINGO Project and led by Transform Trade, an INGO that supports farmers and workers to achieve trade justice, alongside Norsaac, a human rights organisation working with women and young people in Ghana.
For the past couple of years, the RINGO project has been centering its work on decolonising the aid business and shifting power from international NGOs and donors alike. Through a series of prototypes, the project has sought to move the conversation towards understanding the practicalities of the ‘how’ in this whole endeavour. One of the initiatives to emerge was a deeper look into how PGM can strengthen local civil society and the communities with whom it works. This is one of the overarching aims of the SDGs and also one of the central aims of the OECD’s development assistance community’s aims of strengthening local civil society.
In trial carried out in collaboration with local communities, participants experienced not only a higher income, but reported improved confidence and more independence. As a consequence, the women’s collective took on more leadership from Transform Trade and, in the words of one smallholder farmer began ‘creating more independence for their own destiny.’ This speaks to the very heart of Goal 5 of the SDG’s: to achieve gender equality and independence for all women and girls.
Norsaac worked on PGM in Ghana at the national, sub-national and local level. At the subnational level, participants saw it as an opportunity to co-create solutions; at the local level, they saw it as a process to take power completely into their own hands. ‘What we learned was that in each process, PGM significantly changed the power relationship that saw communities as recipients of aid/support to become chief participants and decision-makers,’ said Mohammed Awal Alhassan.
There is a lot of talk about participatory grant-making, but in practice, it remains on the fringes, as funders are reluctant to let go of power. A recent webinar hosted by the RINGO Project highlighted that whilst PGM has been around as a concept for about 15 years, its principles have yet to be widely adopted.
Some of the reasons for this are because of the challenges associated with the practice. The model goes against most mainstream practice, where civil society applies for funding; funders decide if they want to fund it, and then hold them to account for short-medium term measurable outcomes. For one, PGM requires a different approach to investment: the pilot took longer and more upfront investment than any of the participants anticipated, as it took time to invest in building trust amongst partners.
Measurement of outcomes is also less clear. ‘PGM creates challenges for funders who are used to seeing reports for outputs and outcomes on their reporting cycles and the two just don’t align. People are funding us because they want to see outcomes around trade and development, because that’s our core mission, but not recognising the length of time the process takes and the value in that process,’ said Charlotte Timson, CEO of Transform Trade.
‘How we measure change….will change,’ confirms Alhassan of Norsaac. It may seem obvious, but process becomes the centre of this work, not the same old short-term ‘measurable’ outcomes.
Ultimately, investing in process pays off. As a result of these trials, those engaged in the work were confident that by letting go of the reigns of control, PGM can reduce dependency on donors and INGOs in future, whilst strengthening the hand and power of local civil societies to face the multiple challenges coming their way.
Diana Samarasan from the initiative ‘Advancing Participation in Philanthropy’ goes even further: ‘It’s not enough to just have decision-making in one aspect of work or one location: funders should have more engagement from constituents in the actual governance of the organisation.’ To help deepen participation, they’ve created a self-assessment tool that is being piloted across 20 foundations in the USA, Europe, Mexico, South Africa and India.
The impact on the international NGO model was also acutely felt through this work. Both Timson and Alhassan agreed that whilst resources should be decided and managed by the local communities, it’s not to say that those in the global north should walk away from the table. ‘This work changed us, and we want to deepen our participation approaches across everything we do. But partners still wanted us to play a role. We need to focus on where we can add value, in advocacy, facilitation, and not necessarily working at the community level,’ concluded Timson.
Current practice in civil society remains both top-down and patronising: assuming that those in Europe or the US know best, making decisions, drip-feeding project-based, short-term funding, and cementing the state of long-term dependence. As funders and civil society profess the desire to do more to localise, shift power and decolonise, however, letting go of power is the much-needed step in the chain that will make a significant difference to advancing SDG 5 – and so many others.
Pull out box: principles of PGM
From: South meets north in power shift: A participatory grant-making model by Norsaac and Transform Trade
- Trust based.
- Indigenous values: centre the values that embody the context of the communities and cultural setting
- Transparency and accountability: Openness throughout will ensure mutual accountability and build trust.
- Solidarity, inclusion and non-discrimination requires development stakeholders to commit to leaving no one behind.
- Do no harm and safeguard the communities we serve.
- Co-creation (participation)
- Collaboration and Networking among grantees and other stakeholders, fosters a sense of shared purpose and collective action.
- Learn and Reflect iteratively and continually.
- Telling stories with dignity calls for northern and southern organizations to respect indigenous stories and their sources, and not modify them to suit their interests.
- Flexibility and Adaptability recognizes that community needs and circumstances may change over time.
Deborah Doane is a Partner at Rights CoLab, and co-convenes the RINGO Project. She works as a consultant and writer on civic space and shifting power for philanthropy and civil society.
Transform Trade welcomes discussion from any interested parties. You can contact them at amy.wilson@transform-trade.org
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Comments (0)
I inadvertently posted my comment twice. Please retain the latest one and delete the earlier one. They are almost the same. Many thanks.
It is a timely article! The shift of resources and decision-making power in favor of those who lack them is often the most crucial factor for catalyzing vibrant democracies and sustainable societies. This shift can ensure accelerated progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and beyond. There is a pressing need for more dialogues and knowledge-sharing to make philanthropy and grant-making spaces more equitable, meaningful, relevant, and impactful for constituents. Transform Trade's initiative (special thanks to Deborah Doane and Amy Wilson for sharing) is truly encouraging. I'm delighted to see the article in Alliance magazine after many years – almost a decade or so! As a development practitioner for many years, working at both ends to advance philanthropy and civil society action, I've learned that communities often possess more knowledge than local NGOs, INGOs, and donors give them credit for. They have remarkable skills effective in disaster mitigation, sustainable livelihoods, building climate resilience, water resources, land rejuvenation, and more. There is a need for a meaningful deepening of the participatory approach, not just in grant-making but also in development planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. It is something that all stakeholders, from NGOs/INGOs, donors, companies to governments, realize and use as a trump card when it suits them, but embedding this in their practice remains a challenge. I was once part of the Social Justice Philanthropy Network facilitated by the Ford Foundation, creating opportunities for many grant-making foundations worldwide to learn from each other. At that time, I was leading the grant-making work at the National Foundation for India. I hope something similar, a contributory network, emerges to mainstream the discourse on responsible and participatory grant-making and the role of INGOs.
This is a timely and impeccably documented case! The shift of resources and decision-making power in favour of those who lack them is often the most crucial factor for catalysing vibrant democracies and sustainable societies. It can ensure accelerated progress toward achieving, not only the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also beyond. There is a pressing need for more dialogues and knowledge-sharing to make philanthropy and grant-making spaces more equitable, meaningful, relevant, and impactful for constituents. Transform Trade's initiative (special thanks to Deborah Doane and Amy Wilson for sharing) is truly encouraging. I'm delighted to see the article in Alliance magazine after many years – almost a decade or so! As a development practitioner for many years, working at both ends to advance philanthropy and civil society action, I've learned that communities often possess more knowledge than local NGOs, INGOs, and donors give them credit for. They have remarkable skills effective in disaster mitigation, sustainable livelihoods, building climate resilience, water resources, land rejuvenation, and more. There is a need for a meaningful deepening of the participatory approach, not just in grant-making but also in development planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. It is something that all stakeholders, from NGOs/INGOs, donors, companies to governments, realize and use as a trump card when it suits them, but embedding this in their practice remains a challenge. I was once part of the Social Justice Philanthropy Network facilitated by the Ford Foundation, creating opportunities for many grant-making foundations worldwide to learn from each other. At that time, I was leading the grant-making work at the National Foundation for India. I hope something similar, a contributory network, emerges to mainstream the discourse on responsible and participatory grant-making and the role of INGOs.
Norsaac believes in this agenda and will continue to engage funders and practitioners on the subject to allow communities to lead change processes. We believe the destination of power should be the communities and will continue to pursue this agenda. thanks, Debora, for amplifying the voices.
Transform Trade very much welcome any conversations with funders looking to adapt and change their processes to allow communities to set and implement their change agenda, strengthen their core and move away from donor dependence.