Tag: trust
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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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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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Why Partnerships Matter: YETA
In the refugee-hosting regions of northern Uganda, Youth Empowerment to Act Peace and Disability Initiative (YETA), based in Imvepi, Terego district, has worked closely with Cohere for many years. Throughout the partnership, they have demonstrated that when local expertise gets effectively resourced, real and sustainable solutions can flourish. Cohere shares YETA’s belief that the most…
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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…