Harnessing relationship as the root of all systems change (part 2) — In my previous post I started to talk about where human connection fits into development plans and approaches : where we recognize its influence, where we ignore it, and where we have opportunities to deepen the impact of development efforts by giving more of our attention to it. Ultimately, the…

Harnessing relationship as the root of all systems change (part 1) — We see the value of connection but don’t ask what or why we are connecting ‘Connection’ is a common thread in much of the rhetoric that surrounds global and national commitments to advance social and economic development in a way that “leaves no one behind.” Embedded in the notion of leaving no one behind is the idea that justice is grounded in the extent to…

Why deepening the impact of development calls for widening the lens through which we understand impact — I have always been most drawn to work that attempts to get to the root causes of social problems. I have also been cognizant that most mainstream development spaces (i.e. my chosen spheres of work) rarely prioritize what I would consider to be a ‘root cause’. I’ve come to realize…

The challenge of confronting racism and colonial legacies in the development sector — As ‘anti-racism’ has increasingly entered the mainstream lexicon, new pockets of collective reckoning have emerged from the baseline acknowledgment that neutrality (i.e. to be non-racist) is not simply undesirable, but in fact impossible if we accept that we all operate within racist systems. Against this backdrop of widening acknowledgement, the…

This post was originally published on LinkedIn. Within all the discourse on systems transformation, and in organizations in general, ‘leadership’ is a word that comes up a lot. There tends to be an implicit (or explicit) narrative, often institutionalized by organizational competency frameworks, that we should all aspire to be…

An examination of norms and perceptions that influence the inclusivity of innovation practice in development institutions — As innovation has assumed an increasingly central place in development institutions’ narratives for catalyzing transformational change, the question of what it means and looks like to ‘mainstream’ innovation remains at the fore. In particular, a shift in focus from the capacity of innovation to yield siloed, incremental improvements in addressing…

Some reflections on the work of building anti-racist organizations — As I have been messily striving alongside others to live into the question of what it takes to address the root causes of racism in the context of an organization, specifically in the development field, I continue to be struck by the complexity and necessity of naming: to the power…

Unpacking a different logic of development impact — A few weeks ago, I found myself in a Zoom call with over 150 UN colleagues, gathered in silence from our different parts of the world with our attention fixed on the screen of a woman slowly pouring water over tea leaves. Amidst the reverence of the collective stillness and…

There is no shortage of value-laden rhetoric in sustainable development when it comes to the end goals. At the level of political commitments and long-term strategies, there is an implicit understanding that transformational change requires a willingness to give voice to mankind’s highest future potential. In calling for nothing less…