JRNY Consulting

At JRNY Consulting, we deliver rights-based and feminist #research, #evaluations, #learning, and #strategicplanning in the #nonprofit sector. Contact us to find out how we can support your organisation's Journey to Transformation. www.jrnyconsulting.com

📚 Later Is a Cis-Hetero Patriarchal Time Zone: Narratives of Resistance to LGBTQI+ Inclusion amongst Humanitarian Practitioners📚 We 😍 this journal article from Ilaria M. in the Journal of Refugee Studies. "...humanitarian discourses implicitly or explicitly relegate LGBTQI+ inclusion efforts to the future tense. During humanitarian crises, I contend, the future is never proximate, but rather an endlessly delayable horizon—intended here as a vanishing point, that which cannot be reached—towards which all hopes for LGBTQI+ recognition are oriented." - Illaria Michelis Here's a quick rundown of some narratives you may have heard: 🤨 There’s nothing we can do: law and culture: Local laws and cultural norms prevent the inclusion of LGBTQI+ individuals. 🤨 Training first: Specific training on LGBTQI+ issues is required before addressing their specific needs in practice. 🤨 Data first: Interventions should be informed by data specific to LGBTQI+ communities before taking action. 🤨 Women first: The needs of cisgender women should be prioritised. 🤨 Partners first: Partnerships with organisations and communities in situ ensure contextual relevance and should be prioritised...even if they hold conservative views perpetuating exclusion or discrimination of LGBTQI+ people. The article calls for a greater understanding and acknowledgement of how we (yes, you too!) are reinforcing gendered, racialised and heteronormative systems so that we can do better for people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). Check it out 👇🏾! (Direct link in comments)

📙 Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse Guidelines📙 We love the second edition of this comprehensive guidance from Jennifer Boeun Lee, Gretchen Emick from the International Rescue Committee and Elisabeth Roesch, and Meghan O'Connor from UNICEF. It's great to have guidance specific to child survivors of sexual abuse that centres an awareness of gender inequality and adopts a survivor-centred, intersectional approach. Guiding principles for the Caring for Child Survivors (CCS) approach: 🧡 Prioritise Safety: Ensure the physical and emotional safety of the child survivor and support non-offending caregivers. 🧡 Promote the Child’s Best Interests: Always prioritise the child’s well-being by evaluating risks, strengths, and protective factors to make the least harmful decisions. 🧡 Informed Consent/informed assent: Obtain informed consent or assent, respecting the child’s evolving capacity and the impact of their experiences. 🧡 Ensure Confidentiality: Collect, store, and share information confidentially, with the child’s permission, and only on a need-to-know basis. 🧡 Facilitate Meaningful Participation: Involve children in decision-making processes, considering their age, maturity, and gender. Respect their views and explain decisions when necessary. 🧡 Fair and Equal Treatment: Offer all children the same high-quality care, tailored to their unique needs and circumstances. 🧡 Show Respect, Kindness, Empathy: Treat children with kindness and respect, always believe them, and never blame them for the abuse they have experiences. 🧡 Recognise Uniqueness: Build on the individual strengths of each child and their family to support recovery and healing. 🧡 Understand social identities and individual experiences: Understand personal biases related to gender, equality, and sexual abuse, as these can impact a child’s recovery. These guidelines also include a range of helpful tools. Check it out 👇🏾! (Direct ink in comments)

🎵 "Pay me what you owe me. Don't act like you forgot" -Rihanna 👑 Where is the money for feminist organising?!?! We love this report from Tenzin Dolker, Kasia (Katarzyna) Staszewska, Inna Michaeli, Cindy Clark and the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). "Despite the advances made on gender equality and women’s rights since the Beijing Platform, it is clear that the funding ecosystem for intersectional feminist organising, and for feminist movements in general, is still bleak. Newly committed resources are not reaching feminist movements at the breadth and depth necessary, especially in the Global South." - Kasia Staszewska, Tenzin Dolker, Kellea Miller The report emphasises the need for a power shift in how funding is distributed, advocating for more direct resourcing of feminist movements. 💡 Some highlights from the report: 🛑 Disparity in funding to organisations working with marginalised groups (such as LGBTIQ+ communities, indigenous women, sex workers, and young feminists). These groups face significant barriers to accessing institutional funds. 🛑 Feminist organisations in different regions experience varying levels of financial support. For instance, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East organisations report lower funding than their counterparts in Latin America and Eastern Europe. ⏰ It's time for funders to engage in participatory governance and better accountability to grassroots feminist actors. ✊🏾 Check it out 👇🏾! (Direct link in comments)

📚 Inclusive and Accessible Communication Course 📚 Do you work with words? Do you want to make them work better for everybody? Check out Bold Type, a fantastic course from our friend Ettie Bailey-King 👇🏾!

🛠 Towards a Gender-Transformative Organisation🛠 Working on being a gender-transformative organisation? 🧐 We 💕 this toolkit from Annabel Kennedy and Audrey Ledanois from WECF International, Jeanette Sequeira and Juana Vera Delgado from the Global Forest Coalition, Saskia Ivens and Nur Rokhmah Hidayati from ResultsinHealth. 🌟 The toolkit helps organisations work through critical questions on the road to developing an Organisational Gender Action Plan: ❓ Are policies, strategies, working culture, infrastructure, and facilities gender-transformative? ❓ Who is represented at various levels of management? ❓ What is the division of work between diverse groups in your staff, programmes, and activities? ❓ Are your programmes or projects gender-transformative? ❓ Do you have specific activities aimed at gender work? ❓ Are there adequate budget and resources allocated for this effort? Check out this great toolkit 👇🏾! (Direct link in comments)

Structural oppression in humanitarianism? Definitely. We 😍 this Anti-Racist and Decolonial Framework from the Start Network in response to the pervasive roots of colonialism and systemic racism embedded within the humanitarian sector, which are often reinforced by a lack of diversity and predominantly White leadership in many organisations. 🧐 How can you apply this framework? 🌟 Foster an environment of bravery, trust, and deep democracy as essential preconditions for effectively applying anti-racist and decolonial principles. 🌟 Create a safe and brave environment that encourages people to openly identify and discuss instances of bias, prejudice, and systemic racism or colonialism, prioritising the perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) and Global Majority colleagues. 🌟 Deliberate thoughtfully towards generating reparative actions based on identified issues, incorporating deep democracy to facilitate mindful decision-making. 🌟 Ensure adequate resources are allocated for addressing racism and colonialism by planning for necessary material investments and recognising financial requirements to support dedicated staff and external expertise, preventing the dilution of efforts when added to existing workloads. 🌟 Hold (your/our) organisations accountable for implementing reparative actions by specifying resources, timeframes, responsible persons or teams, and establishing clear metrics for success, such as those provided by the Equity Index, the Racial Equity Index, or the Dignity Project. This framework also includes relevant tools to understand and dismantle colonial and racist structures. Check it out 👇🏾!

🧐 What do feminist and Women's Rights Organisations want? 🧐 We ❤️ this paper developed by Dr. Yvonne Maingey-Muriuki, Pato Kelesitse, and Valerie Minne for CARE and Oxfam, which highlights the barriers and enablers of effective partnerships between International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) and Feminist and Women's Rights Organisations (WRO). 🔑 What are the key challenges to effective partnerships? INGOs: ⛔ Struggle to differentiate between WROs and feminist organisations. ⛔ See participation as perfunctory. A tickbox exercise. ⛔ Are often exploitative and extractive in their collaborations. ⛔ Take over! ⛔ Are unclear about HOW to engage with grassroots-level WROs. ⛔ Expect WROs to navigate complex bureaucratic procedures. ⛔ Are inaccessible. 🚀 What can INGOs do to work toward meaningful collaboration? 🚀 ✅ Actively listen, adapt, and connect by defining feminist principles collaboratively, understanding grassroots organisations in Africa, proactively identifying diverse WRO partners, and building country teams with feminist allies for meaningful engagement. ✅ Enhance genuine collaborations and feminist leadership by supporting WROs' activism, involving WRO representatives in all project stages, acting as connectors to facilitate funding and skill-building, validating WROs' voices beyond projects, and considering alternative, creative participation methods. ✅ Relinquish their space, take a back seat, and amplify the voices of feminist organisations and WROs by using their power to create engagement opportunities for these groups and giving up seats in global forums to ensure grassroots voices are heard and supported. ✅ Adapt existing funding models by involving WRO representatives in designing and managing funds, providing flexible support for core activities, educating donors on working with grassroots WROs, adopting adaptable funding mechanisms, and funding organisations rather than projects. ✅ Make it easier for WROs to establish contact without relying on personal connections and changing partnership models to facilitate continuous learning, reducing bureaucratic barriers that hinder effective collaboration with WROs and feminist organisations. Check it out 👇🏾!

🌍 LGBTQI+ Groups in Women, Peace, and Security Architecture 🌈 We 💟 this guidebook authored by Liam Li, Nina Bernarding, Christine Seifert, and Beatrix Austin from the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy and the Berghof Foundation. This resource provides actionable insights and strategies to support civil society and policy practitioners better integrate the perspectives and lived realities of people with diverse SOGIESC (sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics) across the four pillars of Women, Peace, and Security (WPS): Participation, protection, relief and recovery, prevention. The Guidebook offers the following: 🔑 Groundbreaking approaches to integrate LGBTQI+ needs and priorities. 🔑 Practical tools for policy practitioners and civil society organisations. 🔑 In-depth analysis of barriers and strategies to overcome them. 🏳️🌈 Check it out 👇🏾!

🔎 The Learning Curve: A World Where Learning Comes First 🥇 Teia Rogers is co-hosting The Learning Curve from ALNAP along with these amazing humans: Sarah Abdelatif - Propel Juliet Parker - ALNAP Namukabo Werungah - The New Humanitarian The Learning Curve is an innovative learning event to imagine alternative futures on the following themes: 🌟 The marginalisation of national actors in mainstream humanitarian knowledge production. 🌟 The intersection between scarcity mindsets and institutional ego. 🌟 The development of active learning cultures that translate insights into action. Register 👇🏾 to join the event: 10th July (Washington 08.00, London 13.00, Nairobi 15.00, Manila 20.00)