The international development sector is currently moving through its hour of reckoning, slowly approaching its historical and future legacies with more scrutiny, it seems than ever before.
As the sector comes face-to-face with the impacts of a legacy steeped in racism, it can be difficult to process and accept that since its inception, the scales of humanitarianism have been tipped in the favour of Whiteness.
Most recently, many in the sector have begun to unpack and analyse all that has been done in the name of ‘doing good,’ and some have begun to gather and share information; information that could…
Our reflections on ‘best practices’ and ‘bias’ in data analysis.
This blog post accompanies our demographic and indicator data release for our Global Mapping Survey. Read our data report here.
When learning about research methodologies, we are often taught to remove all bias from our research and that the only data that is valid is “neutral data” with “standardized procedures”. The idea of neutrality implies that the inquiry is completely free from the researcher’s perspective, positionality, and lived experience. But this is never the case. As human beings, the questions we ask are based on our own interests and framed by our perspectives.
Complete “objectivity” in research is a myth.
…
On 3 April 2021, the Racial Equity Index posted a Twitter thread calling for accountability from WILD Innovators and Fiona Macaulay — the founder of WILD Forum for their upcoming Leadership Forum on 5–6 May 2021.
We listed in a thorough thread a series of questions and suggestions around their speakers and panels for their forum and asked why there was an utter lack of diversity on some key panels and why the forum was cost-prohibitive for the development community at large.
We made it very clear that the thread we posted was not an attack but in the spirit…
Guest blog by Neha Kagal
Since Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced cuts to the UK’s international aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% (of gross national income) there has been visible dismay, disappointment and concern over the UK Government’s decision in International Development circles. The irony that this decision was announced on 25th November, the International Day to End Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) was not lost on anyone. Leading INGOs put out joint collective statements condemning the move; not only because Sunak’s decision appeared to be backtracking on a historic commitment enshrined in law, but also because of justifiable fear…
It is the end of the first week of 2021. Let this be the beginning of year reminder that the #GlobalDevelopment sector is STILL racist and built on white supremacy.
Your 1-week anti-racism training isn’t the work.
Your internal workgroups of BIPOC people talking about racism isn’t the work.
Welcome to a new year of accountability.
This week White Supremacists in the United States provided an urgent reminder that:
- Diversity Training will not dismantle white supremacy.
- White people buying anti-racism books won’t dismantle white supremacy.
- White women claiming to be allies, feminists and intersectional allies will not fix and have not fixed white supremacy.
WHY?
- Power is a…
*Content Warning. This blog post describes the process of translating our Global Mapping Survey and highlights the colonial history and legacy of languages, which includes content that may be triggering or upsetting to BIPOC.*
The Racial Equity Index (REIndex) was formed to produce an Index and advocacy tools that will provide greater accountability for racial equity within and across the global development sector in order to dismantle structural racism and create a more equitable system and culture, with justice and dignity at its core. Our first step in creating this index is our Global Mapping Survey, which will collect broad opinions from individuals in the global development sector and assess trends across geographies and among diverse populations. This step will help us identify the indicators that will be explored more deeply as we build…
Also Known As: The sector demands accountability yet White women/feminists refuse to give up power for the harm and trauma they have caused and inflicted to BIPOC staffers.
The composition and culture of leadership within the global development space does not live up to its purported values. Existing leadership normalises whiteness and upholds white supremacy culture. Standards crafted by white people are categorised as being the right or ‘professional’ way to do things within the global development sector.
The white experience is considered to be superior, the most trustworthy and the guaranteed answer to success. This contrasts starkly to the Black, Indigenous and person of color (BIPOC) experience or perspective, which is often undervalued, deemed problematic and is challenged rather than being wholeheartedly accepted and centred in the global development sector. In this space, BIPOC staff are disproportionately forced to observe leadership rather than directly hold it.
We must change the global development sector’s ineffectual commitment to ending systemic racism. Organisations cannot claim to advance racial equity if the makeup of their leadership boards are majority white and the culture across their organisation seeks to preserve and aggrandise white supremacy and white leadership. Existing culture places too…
The Racial Equity Index firmly rejects the rushed approach that international organisations are now practising — including the philanthropy sector — to (finally) ‘do something’ about the ‘problem’ of systemic racism within the global development sector. In our work, we have encountered many of these organisations and in this piece, include quotes from real conversations we have had with these groups as examples of white supremacy culture in action.
White supremacy culture can be identified by many characteristics including: Defensiveness, perfectionism, paternalism and a sense of urgency — a phenomenon that many organisations in global development are experiencing, given the…
10 days ago, on Friday 9 Oct 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program.
In Alfred Nobel’s last will and testament he declares that the peace prize should be awarded to, “… the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”
The announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize states:
The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for…
As one of the legacies of colonialism, the international development sector is directly connected to systems that perpetuate oppression, exploitation, exclusion, and violence, under the guise of doing good. Harmful ideologies, including white supremacy and patriarchy, are deeply embedded within international development structures. Yet, while the international development sector has mainstreamed conversations around gender and continues to fight for gender equality (through Sustainable Development Goal #5 and with several indices to measure the state of gender equality), the commitment to racial equity and the dismantling of white supremacy culture in the sector remains woefully behind. …
The Racial Equity Index
The Racial Equity Index was formed by a dedicated group of people who wanted to explore the lack of and need for a racial equity index within global development
