#BuildBackBetter

Facing the shadow within ourselves to #BuildBackBetter

Posted on July 31, 2020July 31, 2020 by Barry Knight

To follow up his article, #BuildBackBetter, Barry Knight is researching practical ways to make this happen. In the first of a series of articles, he examines the role of the individual, and concludes that a necessary condition of rebuilding society is to face the ‘shadow’ we all have within ourselves. The air is thick with chickens…

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Between Hypervisibility and Invisibility: Sex workers strive for space

Posted on July 21, 2020July 21, 2020 by Solidarity Foundation

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…

As destitution returns to the UK, what can philanthropy do?

Posted on July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 by Barry Knight

Looking at the history of poverty, there appears to be one certainty: poverty has been a feature of every human society since time immemorial. As the Bible says: ‘The poor you will always have with you’ (Matthew 26:11). A breakthrough In the 19th century, philanthropy worked hard to overcome this, and by 1909 there was a…

A new tomorrow? Brazil needs civil society, but not Bolsonaro

Posted on June 29, 2020June 30, 2020 by Henrique Silveira

The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns in the main cities of the country meant that millions of Brazilians had to quickly adapt to a new reality. Social isolation is the main tool for minimizing the effects of Covid-19 and reducing the spread of the virus. However, this isolation has enormous consequences:…

Fostering resilience in times of crisis: lessons from the grassroots

Posted on May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 by Eva Rehse

Over the last few months, likely each and every one of us has felt pushed to the limits of our abilities to cope with the current global situation. Even for those of us for whom lockdown is no more than an inconvenience, this moment has undoubtedly led to more self-reflection, and an appreciation of the…

Brazil’s basic income has been achieved by organized civil society

Posted on May 19, 2020May 21, 2020 by Ana Valeria Araujo

For the majority of the population, social rights are not gifts freely offered by those in positions of political power. Although most Brazilians can’t see this, all these rights were won by the mobilization of organized civil society. In recent weeks, Brazil has witnessed a clear example of how popular mobilization is the one authentic…

Tewa means support

Posted on May 5, 2020May 6, 2020 by Andrew Milner

If you look at Tewa’s website, it will tell you that the word means support in Nepali. Applied to the organization, it’s both appropriate and understated. Tewa’s story has been ably told. This is not the place to retell it. Instead, I want to draw attention to a few key ideas which inform it and…

Philanthropy in emerging market countries and the opportunity for radical transformation

Posted on May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 by Chandrika Sahai

Just before Christmas last year I found myself with a very small and unsure group of ‘anti-CAA’ protestors outside a public park in Jaipur. We weren’t certain if we had the permission to gather and protest, who was really in charge or what we were going to do. Someone said we could gather but only…

Posted on April 7, 2020May 6, 2020 by Barry Knight

Coronavirus has changed our world forever. Plans made a few weeks ago seem outdated at best or undoable at worst. The speed of this has been remarkable. In a recent article, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown quotes Lenin: ‘There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.’ Those of us…