Social media isn’t just related to poor mental health. Its causing it in young people (and adults too).

It’s interesting that the default of most funders / investors is simply assume the ambition every social solution is to #scale.

Feeling dissatisfied with a measurement tool that ignored the non-linear path of children learning art, FacesUp set out to create an alternative measurement tool to define success by the richness of learning art, and not a "defined set target." shiftthepower.org/2025/08/13/a... #ShiftThePower

What happens when NGOs shut down, donors walk away & the reports stop printing? Movements don’t die — they shapeshift. History shows that mutual aid & stubborn resistance kept civil society and movements alive long before donor funding shiftthepower.org/2025/08/21/b... #ShiftThePower

If you read on thing this week, let it be this - The next #Haitian revolution is forgiveness ayibopost.com/opinion-the-... by Isabelle Clérié

Writing in Humentum's "A bridge to the future: Essays on a new era for global development" the GFCF's Jenny Hodgson and @eshbankwesiga.bsky.social point to community philanthropy as the way forward. #ShiftThePower globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/blog/light-i...

When you’re the silent guardian of the forest and everyone knows it. Those eyes don’t miss a thing! Photo:📸 mikullashbee

Meet Anthony Schmidt, a 16-year-old with #autism who turns #miniature #cars into life-sized works of #art through his incredible #photography

Regardless of whether you work in international development or a local organization, 2025 already feels exhausting, yet it’s only April.

Did you hear about the #flower that grew from concrete? *Photo taken in my neighborhood.

Philanthropy didn’t understand what it was trying to fix shiftthepower.org/2025/04/02/p... They mistook what was unfamiliar for something broken... they encountered something mess and unpredictable, they assumed managing it was the same as improving it. So they built bureaucracies. #ShiftThePower

Interesting conversation on how global health interacts with the culture and religious sensibilities of Global South communities. A lot to reflect on regarding how global health can make itself “more trusted” by communities. I enjoyed this.

underneath the tree's gentle sway #nature becomes the window a sacred #arch where thoughts dissolve and mysteries of #life evolve…. —Binny #EastCoastKin #BlueSkyArtShow #Arch #Photography #freeverse #Photo #Micropoetry #PoetryCommunity #NaturePhotography #tree #Macro #scape #vss365 #writing

"1 of the greatest tricks of international development is to allow us to see ourselves as only receivers of aid and never the contributors or cofunders of aid" @eshbankwesiga.bsky.social Full interview: shorturl.at/qpMjf #communityphilanthropy #beyondaid #shitthepower #decolonizephilanthropy

A Poem: This is a no solicitation space. "...The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you...” Anonymously published under the Unmute Yourself Series shiftthepower.org/unmute-yours... #ShiftThePower

"one of the greatest tricks of international development was to allow us to see ourselves as only receivers of aid and never the contributors or co-funders." - Eshban Kwesiga speaks about the erasure of community contributions to development

The GFCF's own @eshbankwesiga.bsky.social sat down with the Centre for Policy Analysis to discuss why now is the moment to get serious about nurturing local resources. #ShiftThePower www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMw1...

Another throwback, this time from 2016 with an article from Jenny Hodgson in @theguardian.com. Amidst the current talks about alternatives to international aid, let's focus on community philanthropy - "a brave new model for development funding." #ShiftThePower www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

There will soon be just 12 USAID staff members covering the entire continent of Africa.

Bob Dylan was right, for the times, they are a-changin’

NEW: ‘There’s nowhere near enough funding’ - former UK politician Jo Swinson on pushing the frontiers of new economic thinking at Partners for a New Economy as Trump era returns Read more: www.pioneerspost.com/news-views/2...

The possibility of #AI widening or lessening global inequality could go either way. What matters is what we do now, treating AI as a tool to make sure we use it lessen global inequality.

This piece tells the truth but not the whole truth if one considers how much influence AI will have on Global South FinTech, what Southern data tells us, AI generated narratives content that influences how the GlobalSouth sees itself & its place in the world etc foreignpolicy.com/2024/12/17/a...

“It is possible the aliens lock their spaceship doors when they fly past #earth.” 🌍

"The fundamental question is simple: Do unicorns really matter for the wider African startup ecosystem?" www.semafor.com/article/12/2...

What if Africa needs various “good zebras,” especially if they blend local money with international resources, more than it needs one “brilliant unicorn” that exists strictly as a foreign investment?

To be lost is to (have to) find the way. #Mufasa

The thing about staying up late because it’s the holiday is that the kids will still wake me up (too early) no matter how late I went to bed. It’s almost as if they are saying, “dad, next time, don’t stay up too late without my permission.” 🤪

Another great opportunity for an experienced campaigner / feminist / project manger - to lead the global “Walking the Talk” consortium hivos.org/vacancy/prog...

How I felt after drafting the off-for-the-holiday auto response.

Read about my take on the future of funding for global health in this article by Stephanie Nolen in the #NewYorkTimes. I advocate for a shift from a single-issue/disease agency approach to a whole system approach to strengthen national health systems. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/h...

What does it look like for a Global South entity to be “as local as possible, and as international as necessary?” Especially in a world where global devt / philanthropy still want to glorify and universalize language, systems and ways of doing to mirror Global North / international orgs.

R.I.P Nikki Giovanni 🤍 If you’re wondering who she is, watch this. Her (28 at the time) “gently schooling” James Baldwin 🤍 (47years) on how black men practiced “being gentle” with the white men but not with black women youtu.be/Pg2t5b0m2d4?... “When an elder dies, a library burns to the ground.”

The INGO problem and why it’s time for radical reimagining shiftthepower.org/2024/12/06/t... INGOs capitalize on a system of structural racism that paints the Global South as untrustworthy and lacking in capacity, effectively restricting direct funding for local actors. #ShiftThePower

Are we still doing the book challenge? 4/20 Check out this page turner on the problematic relationships between global conservation #NGOs, wealthy #donors, & local communities. Including how the West always creates its own White conservation heroes “that love conservation more than the locals.” 👀

Why does this ALWAYS happen to me? #AcademicSky #WritingSky

Arcane 🔥🔥🔥

Funding & visibility on panels & access to global intellectual spaces for African thinkers almost always boxes their focus into local issues. Even when Africans cross into commentary on global topics (geo-politics etc) they are still boxed into the label “African thinkers not global thinkers.”

Individual/local giving by Africans to African CSOs is definitely under-accounted for. #ShiftThePower

It's time to challenge the myths about individual giving in Africa & its role in shaping a sustainable future for civil society. We're excited about the upcoming report from EPIC Africa & the launch event next Wednesday! Join by registering below. #ShiftThePower bit.ly/3ZsJM7t

Interesting that many young people don’t want to work for NGOs but they want to work for and with movements.

💥 Dependency isn’t development. Are INGOs part of the solution or just another problem? Join us on 2nd December for a candid conversation based on the book "The INGO Problem." Don’t miss it: shiftthepower.org/event/the-in...

Couldn’t keep up with the only covers challenge 🤭. Here goes another blurb. Sylvia Tamale is a philosopher, even though I suspect she might cringe at that description. Her message is simple; #Africa doesn’t need to mimic the west, it simply needs to heal. #BookSky 💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 4/20

What are the project resources that international philanthropy believes cannot be purchased with money?

How are #INGOs acting as a barrier to shifting power & resources to local civil society? What needs to change? Join us on Monday as we chat with Deborah Doane, author of the new book "The INGO Problem – Power, Privilege and Renewal." #ShiftThePower globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/news/join-us...

An enlightening and yet disturbing story of how India became both colonized and colonizer.

“There has been talk of closing civic space for years, western societies have, for the most part, believed they escaped the problem. Until now, that is” www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/the-noo... There is a lot Southern CSOs can teach the North on the delicate dance with governments that undermine you

"The imaginations of those who created institutional philanthropy a century ago are limiting our collective potential in the present day. The sector’s design flaws are reflected in the shortcomings of how civil society and movements operate...

The most unexplainable piece of African historical fiction your spirit will ever encounter. Moving back and forth in geographical space & time & never losing the reader. No words can explain this masterpiece. Thats it! If you read it & you don’t get it, then it wasn’t for you, so forget about it❤️