Let’s Build Peace, Here & Now Episode 2: Bassma Kodmani and Dawn Shackles

21 June 2021 9:00 AM EDT, 1:00 PM UTC, 2:00 PM BST, 3:00 PM CEST, 6:30 PM IST Register here   https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsd-6vqzorGdIYK82n5UQKs2hdIDPRAnfN About this Event In the second episode of ‘Let’s build peace: here and now’ conversations, Dawn Shackels, a local activist from Northern Ireland will speak with Bassma Kodmani, a fellow activist and peacebuilder who…

Interview with Graciela Hopstein

In this interview Graciela Hopstein of the Brazilian Philanthropy Network for Social Justice speaks with GIFE – Group of Institutes, Foundations and Enterprises, Brazil about the role and centrality of social movements in bringing about systemic transformations to create the world we seek. She reflects on the challenges social movements and the civic space face…

Beyond Us and Them

This blog post is prompted by the provocative article entitled Institutional Philanthropy and Popular Organising in Africa: Some Initial Reflections from Social Movement Activists by Halima Mohamed which draws on the experiences of activists from 13 different movements across Africa. I am part of one of those movements. Social movements are proof of ordinary people’s…

Bleak prognosis for Indian civil society following new foreign funding bill

The Government of India passed the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 on 23 September, less than 72 hours after it was tabled without any prior consultation, taking both civil society in India and the international donor community by surprise. The President gave his assent on 28 September, despite nationwide outcry from civil society and condemnation from the…

Between Hypervisibility and Invisibility: Sex workers strive for space

Sex workers are a hypervisible population — in popular imagination, in media, in sketches of the ‘bad woman’, but strangely they are also completely invisible — in government policies, the healthcare sector, etc. This hypervisibility/invisibility means that sex workers are viewed through the lens of criminality, morality or victimhood while finding themselves on the periphery…

Covid-19 is a social justice issue: How one Brazilian community foundation is responding

On 18 March, the Brazilian government mandated the closure of public schools, non-profit organizations and other public entities that provide essential services to the most vulnerable families in the region of Greater Florianópolis. Vulnerable children, in particular, relied on the food that was given to them at school, or by local non-profits. At the same…