Tag: human relationships
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« De Réfugiée à Voix Active
Parlant de mon histoire, je suis née en République Démocratique du Congo, un pays riche de culture, de beauté mais aussi marqué par des instabilités profondes. Comme beaucoup, j’ai été contrainte de fuir, non pas parce que je le voulais, mais parce que la vie m’y oblige. Me retrouver en Ouganda comme réfugiée, c’était porter…
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Why Donor-Led Agendas Are Failing Communities
For years, donors in the humanitarian sector, have relied on the concept of risk aversion and capacity gaps to justify rigid, restricted and time-bound grants when funding actors in the Global South. To access this funding, organisations are expected to construct robust logframes, articulate detailed theories of change, and commit to predetermined outcomes, often within…
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Language That Divides and Language That Connects
With aid cuts, worsening climate crises, conflict and wars across the globe, it is fair to wonder; why bother with language at all? Isn’t it a distraction from the real work? A change in vocabulary will not save lives or dismantle systems of oppression on its own; and too often, language reform becomes a cosmetic…
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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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“Akagasente”: What Trusting Frontline Leaders Really Looks Like in Philanthropy
Not long ago, I visited Mahani zone in the heart of Rwamwanja refugee settlement in southwestern Uganda; a place over 90,000 people call home. Among them is Abuba, a skilled chicken farmer and the founder of Ignite Hope Initiative, a refugee-led organisation that recently received a flexible seed grant through Cohere, by the Global Whole…
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Do the work, build a foundation first!
One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to the argument for building partnerships rooted in trust, is that one should trust immediately, absolutely and unequivocally. This cannot be further from the truth. Distrust within the humanitarian sector has deep roots in the sector’s history, structure, and power dynamics. Many of today’s systems were built…
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Gathering Points and Relationship Based Aid
The Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo is currently experiencing a crisis. Decades of bubbling tension has overflowed into wide scale conflict, with at least 7000 people killed so far. Traditional forms of humanitarian aid are not getting into the country. There are three main reasons why international aid is barely trickling into…