Tag: CDRA
Hallowed Halls or Ghost Towns?
Are aid workers fighting while propagating the very organizations in which they serve? It’s as if the perpetuation of the institutions themselves slowly, silently becomes what consumes people, rather than the needs and priorities of those they are ultimately meant to serve.
A New Discipline for Development Practitioners
Organizational development is a discipline that needs to become more central to the practice of the development sector as a whole, not just a small professional enclave.
Seeing the future in sovereign local organizations – Part 2
A local sovereign organisation is an authentic expression of the will and voice of its own constituents. While it may accept funding to provide services, it is not a surrogate vehicle for the projects of another agency’s purpose.
Seeing the future in sovereign local organizations – Part I
Sovereignty is both a quality to be developed and a right to be respected and defended. It is a particularly powerful concept when applied to organisation, suggesting authentic qualities, describing a home-grown resilience, an inside-out identity, the idea of an organisation being the expression of the free will of its own constituents.
How to build strong relationships with grassroots organizations, Part 3 of 3
Work on the ground can often be difficult, slow, and heartbreaking, however rewarding. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is to show “care for the caregivers” (both physically and emotionally) to reduce stress and prevent burnout.
How to build strong relationships with grassroots organizations, Part 2 of 3
Under-resourced and under-recognized local organizations face immense challenges on the ground. Yet we as outsiders most often choose to express frustration or impatience if an organization does not appear to be responding to our expectations.
How to build strong relationships with grassroots organizations, Part 1 of 3
As resourced outsiders, when we meet with suffering people, we create high expectations, in them and in ourselves. Or we feel completely helpless in not being able to offer enough and in so doing may even reinforce feelings of hopelessness.
Why Organizations Matter
The fact that people, under the direst of circumstances, are able to pull themselves together and organize themselves is a celebration of the fact that the impulse to develop and organize is inborn.