Tag: funding
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Voices from the Ground: What a Refugee Barber Told Me That No Donor Ever Has
In this second episode of Voices from the Ground, I return to Nakivale refugee settlement; not with a survey tool, but with curiosity, time, and a willingness to listen. What I encountered wasn’t in reports or logframes, but in quiet, unfiltered conversations with refugees. I had returned to Nakivale in Isingiro District, Western Uganda, as…
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Voices from the Ground: When Visibility Replaces Value
In this episode of Voices from the Ground, I explore what it really means to be close to the community; and how trust-building and human relationships can reveal truths that reports and project metrics often miss. Recently, I spent time with a group of refugee women leaders in Rwamwanja settlement. I didn’t go with an…
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The Crisis of Humanitarian Partnerships
Lately, I have found myself in countless conversations and sector convenings where the same question keeps surfacing: “Why are partnerships with refugee-led organisations (RLOs) still tokenistic and only pursued when INGOs face funding cuts or operational challenges?” Across the humanitarian sector, the narrative is becoming familiar: RLOs are called upon only when costs need to…
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Refugee-Led Innovation in Education
How RLOs in Kakuma Are Reimagining Learning In the heart of Turkana County, in Kakuma refugee camp, where survival is shaped by scarcity and resilience, a quiet but radical transformation is underway. It isn’t led by international agencies or headquartered strategies. It’s being shaped by Refugee-Led Organisations (RLOs) that are not waiting for permission to…
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Menstruation is Political and Period Justice Demands Systemic Change
Menstruation is political. Yet in many spaces where period justice is discussed, the focus remains on pads and product distribution. This narrow lens misses the bigger picture. Period justice is about dignity, autonomy, health, safety, and equity; and it’s deeply systemic. It intersects with race, gender, class, displacement, and geography. But those most affected by…
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Celebrating and Supporting Refugee Women Leaders
Even though International Women’s Month may be behind us, we can still take a moment to reflect on the incredible stories of resilience, leadership, and equity that have inspired us. This year, we’ve celebrated the extraordinary contributions of refugee women – survivors, leaders, and changemakers who are transforming their communities despite unimaginable challenges. Refugee women…
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Why we’re moving away from restricted funding…
For too long, the humanitarian sector has operated on the assumption that control equals accountability. For too long, funding has been structured by rigid due diligence frameworks, often focusing more on compliance than on meaningful relationships. Risk aversion, excessive reporting, and deliverables prioritise donor priorities over the needs of the community. At Cohere, we have…
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The changing landscape of humanitarian financing: Understanding its uncertainties
At the start of the year, the world was confronted with a new global reality when the newly elected U.S. government, historically the leading financier of global aid, announced it would discontinue much of its foreign aid. This abrupt decision has sent shockwaves across the humanitarian and development sectors, including UN entities, international NGOs, and…