In the wake of the recent higher profile news about our sector and sexual abuse and safeguarding issues, I (Mary Ann the Director of Jijaze) want to offer a circle for women working in international aid or development who are seeking or needing a confidential space to speak their truth and process feelings (e.g. to be angry, to be sad, to be with whatever is coming up) in the company of other … [Read more...] about Opening a circle for Women in International Development
Thousands of passionate people and a few ‘bad eggs’?
The recent story about Oxfam’s handling of abuse that happened in Chad and Haiti feels like the #MeToo moment for the charity sector which we knew would come. We knew it would come because we know these kinds of abuse are everywhere. We (as a sector) are neither uniquely flawed nor, uniquely infallible. It’s right and proper that there is scrutiny of what charities get up to and how they … [Read more...] about Thousands of passionate people and a few ‘bad eggs’?
Wellbeing & Women Working Internationally for Change: A Summary Report
This research summary draws on a year of research and development work which I and the Jijaze Team have carried out over the past year. This research began when we launched Jijaze (now known at the Replenishment Room) in January 2017 and has included: Conversations with 30 women working in international development or humanitarian work around 3 focus questions, Interactions with my wider … [Read more...] about Wellbeing & Women Working Internationally for Change: A Summary Report
Why the Funding Environment is part of the problem – some reflections on my conversation with Valerie Vauthier
On the latest edition of the Change Making Women Podcast I talk to Valerie Vauthier about the challenges of running an International NGO (Not-For-Profit). Valerie leads an organisation called REM which works on resource monitoring in the Congo Basin with the intention of stimulating government reform and action and natural resource extortion. But our conversation focused not on the valuable … [Read more...] about Why the Funding Environment is part of the problem – some reflections on my conversation with Valerie Vauthier
Time & Space of One’s Own
'A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1922) This quote, now legendary, is also revolutionary. It asserts the need of a woman called to do work she loves (in this case writing fiction) for both resources and private space. Women’s circumstances have changed since Woolf was writing and some of us do theoretically have … [Read more...] about Time & Space of One’s Own