The Power Shift: Decolonising Development

In this week’s episode, we talk to Dr Romina Istratii, who tells us about the DLDL project, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to looking at domestic violence and religious communities.We speak about co-created research which then feeds back into knowledge production and good practices in the West. This challenges Eurocentric norms around knowledge production by reversing the knowledge transfer as a way to shift power.Romina centres the importance of identity and positionality in situating decolonisation efforts, and points at humility and reflexivity as key principles of co-created and community-grounded research.Dr Romina Istratii is UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the School of History, Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London. She is an interdisciplinary researcher, scholar and practitioner working across international development, gender studies, religion and theology, psychology and anthropology to address societal challenges with gender dimensions. She currently leads and manage a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship of £1.2 million in Ethiopia and the UK that responds to domestic violence in religious communities working through an interdisciplinary, decolonial and innovative partnerships model with government, NGOs and grassroots groups. For the past 13 years, she has worked in development-oriented research to promote epistemological reflexivity, ethical research practices and healthy partnerships and collaboration models. She have led numerous initiatives within and beyond the university, having initialised the Decolonising Research Initiative under the aegis of the SOAS Research Directorate and in 2020, and co-founded Decolonial Subversions in 2020. She is the author of the monograph Adapting Gender and Development to Local Religious Contexts: A Decolonial Approach to Domestic Violence in Ethiopia (Routledge, 2020).If you’re interested to find out more about Romina's work, take a look here:Dr Romina Istratii | LinkedInDr Romina Istratii | SOASRecent work:Istratii, R. and Laamann, L., eds (2024) Orthodox Churches and War Politics in Ethiopia and Ukraine: Historical, Ecclesial and Theological Reflections. Studies in World Christianity. Vol. 30, no.2.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Relevant resources:Our multilingual website: Home - Project dldl/ድልድልOur Outputs, listed under Research, Engagement & Intergration, and Knowledge Exchange: Outputs - Project dldl/ድልድልAll our webinars and conferences on Vimeo: Project dldl/ድልድል (vimeo.com)Our theologically-grounded training manual used in workshops with Ethiopian Orthodox clergy, a programme co-created and co-delivered with EOTC DICAC: Booklet_final_English—PDF.pdf (projectdldl.org)A recent policy brief on working with religious leaders and clerics internationally to respond to DVA/GBV: Polcy Brief Template.indd (projectdldl.org)Conference proceedings from our 2022 conference in Ethiopia: Conference-Proceedings_FINAL.pdf (projectdldl.org)Trailers to our film Tidar on YouTube (which we just launched yesterday):

In this week’s episode, we talk to Shilpa Alva about Surge for Water’s model of partnership with community led organisations to address the global water crisis. Shilpa speaks about the importance of building trust and elevating the voice of community led organisations.Shilpa tells us about centering the social context and cultural norms of the communities they partner with to establish long term relationships. We also talk about maintaining an open dialogue with local partners and creating a flexible space for partnerships to change driven by the local partners’ vision.We speak about partnership models that make space for a responsible exit strategy that generates long-term revenue for local organisations.Shilpa is the founder and Executive Director of Surge for Water, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the cycle of poverty through access to safe water and sanitation solutions. Since its founding 15 years ago, Surge has impacted hundreds of thousands of lives across 12 countries. Shilpa’s journey didn’t start in the International Development World. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a Chemical Engineering degree, she joined the corporate world and earned her MBA from the University of Minnesota. After a successful corporate career, she made the choice to transition to running Surge full time.If you’re interested to find out more about Shilpa’s work, take a look here:Surge for Water websiteSurge for Water LinkedInSurge for Water InstagramSurge for Water TwitterShilpa Alva LinkedIn 

In this week’s episode, we talk to Leslie Mudimu, a participant from Cohort 2 of our Skill Share Programme on Decolonising Development. We discuss what Afrocentric development could look like, and how decolonisation and localisation is perceived and understood in the African academic context.Leslie speaks about her experience as a Zimbabwean academic studying in South Africa, and the mobilisation that occurred around the Rhodes Must Fall movement. We speak about how the decolonising call for transformation has been taken up in the African continent, and how the localisation agenda can be implemented.Driven by a passion to understand and find solutions to Africa's developmental issues, Leslie is a Development and Systems Change Consultant. She has a multi-disciplinary background in the Humanities, particularly the Social Sciences, which enables her understanding of complex social problems. Her academic research was on the inclusion of women in transitional processes and governance in Zimbabwe. Her expertise is aligned with decolonisation and transformation efforts and the representation and inclusion of women. Beyond working in the international development space, Leslie is a Founder of a mentorship network for Humanities students in Zimbabwe and South Africa.If you’re interested to find out more about Leslie’s work, take a look here:LinkedInEmail: [email protected] work:Decolonising Development conversation with Dr PZJ BimhaMentorship Network WebsiteRelevant resources:Australian Council for International Development (2023) Yielding and Wielding Power Toolkit.

In this week’s episode, we speak to Kim Kucinskas and Dr. Ishbel McWha-Hermann about equity in compensation and fair reward in international development organisations. We talk about the Equitable Compensation Playbook, which organisations can use as a benchmark to reflect on their approaches to compensation, as well as Project Fair.Kim and Ishbel tell us about equitable compensation as being rooted in challenging Western ideologies around pay. The discourse around decolonisation and shifting power is also being integrated into conversations around compensation and power and value.We dive into the specifics of operationalising change in equitable compensation and pay in INGOs in the development and humanitarian sectors.Kim Kucinskas is the Technical Director, Organizational Transformation at Humentum, a global nonprofit that unlocks the strategic power of operating models for social good organizations. She helps individuals and organizations who are on a journey towards greater equity identify,  understand, and operationalize transformation. Kim’s priority is to support individuals to be more effective in their work and organizations to be prepared for the future. To achieve results, she creates connections between strategy and practical operations by building networks, facilitates co-creation, and supports organizations through consultancies. This is the case with the TIME (Transforming INGO Models for Equity) initiative, a case study in action of power shift where Kim acts as Project Director. In another example of connecting the dots between strategy and practical solutions, Kim led an 18-months long compensation working group of nonprofit compensation practitioners, which resulted in the co-created Equitable Compensation Playbook.Dr. Ishbel McWha-Hermann is an Associate Professor in international HRM at the University of Edinburgh Business School, Scotland. She uses psychological research to enhance social justice and fair reward in organisations, particularly in international work contexts. Ishbel is Founder and Director of Project Fair, which brings together HR and reward managers from INGOs, to develop research based pathways to fairer reward policies and practices. She has undertaken consultancy and provided expert advice to numerous international organisations, including the United Nations. If you’re interested to find out more about their work, take a look here:Project FairIshbel McWha Hermann LinkedInProject Fair LinkedInKim Kucinskas LinkedInHumentum | LinkedInHumentum (@humentum_org)Relevant resources:Equitable Compensation Playbook | HumentumCompensation is a visible manifestation of (in)equality. So, how do we do it? | Humentum