Decolonizing Humanitarian Action
Fully booked
Decolonizing humanitarian action, critical reflection about power inequalities and questioning dependency structures are key debates towards a more progressive and inclusive humanitarian sector. Yet, established humanitarian organizations find it challenging to scrutinise their own way of working. In this online seminar, we will explore to what extend our work practices reflect colonial or racist structures and how we might transform them. The seminar consists of two online sessions. In the first session, we will reflect on our organizations’ structures and ways of thinking. It is intended as internal sensitisation of German NGOs. The second session is also directed at local and national partner organisations. We will have a dialogue about different perspectives of power inequalities and dependencies and engage each other where there is a common understanding and where different perceptions remain.
The sessions will take place on 6 and 9 September 2021 and include regular breaks.
You will learn
To what extent your work practices reflect colonial or racist structures
How power inequalities and dependencies persist in humanitarian partnerships
How perceptions on these inequalitites might differ between German NGOs and local partners
How you might transform coonial or racist ways of thinking and/or working
Target group
Experienced and / or management staff of humanitarian NGOs (e.g. public relations, policy, advocacy or programme departments)
Schedule
Introduction and Expectations
History of Oppression
Short overview of the history of decolonialization and why context matters and discussion in small groups
Break
Power Inequalities in Humanitarian Work
Input from guest speaker and small group work on inequalities and biases in the own organization
Feedback from the Groups
Break
Making it Practical
Small group work on the following questions:
How to introduce decolonization in the own NGO?
How can power inequalities be broken down?
Reflection and Debriefing
Carolin Gomulia
Lecturer
Carolin Gomulia is a seasoned strategist who has honed her skills in the government- and non-profit sectors. She launched "The Workroom - A transformation and development agency" in 2018 which seeks to insert wonder and possibility in the collaborative search, beyond the present, for a vision that makes organizations relevant and resilient. She is also a senior consultant at MzN International. She worked for several years at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa where she contributed to and facilitated numerous processes on anti-bias and anti-discrimination. She speaks fluent English, German and Spanish and holds a Master's degree in Development Studies (University of the Western Cape, South Africa), and in Development Management (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany). She is deeply committed and passionate about social justice and transformation. Carolin is a German national with organic familial links to Indonesia and has resided in South Africa for the past 15 years.
Friederike Bubenzer
Lecturer
06.9.2021 - 09.9.2021
8 hours of training
Online Event
This Training is part of a joint programme by IFHV and VENRO and is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
This training is organized by the umbrella organization of development and humanitarian aid NGOs in Germany.