This story is part of a series supported through a partnership with Humanity United.
Proximate Press has partnered with Kuja.org to engage our readers on topics related to community-led development, solidarity economies, and philanthropy. As part of this partnership, we'll be posting periodic questions for discussion on KujaLink, Kuja's networking platform for people working in international development. Kuja describes KujaLink as enabling "local organisations and funders to connect, collaborate, and create lasting change," and designed to "strengthen trust, accelerate learning, and drive equitable, community-led development."
Our first question for readers is up in KujaLink’s Future of Aid Forum.
We invite you to engage with Kuja’s users. who primarily live and work in global development in Global Majority regions, to discuss the role INGOs play in syphoning talent from local development initiatives, and what happens when that talent returns home to work locally.
KujaLink requires registration to participate. We plan to make this an ongoing feature and platform for in-depth discussions of our coverage and columns and we encourage you to create a profile and engage with the community of proximate leaders and practitioners in the network.
Here is our KujaLink question:
For decades, international NGOs, bilaterals and multilaterals have recruited organizers and leaders from local communities. But what happens when those leaders leave the international aid system and try to return to locally rooted work?
Jonathan Kifunda experienced that transition firsthand. After several years as an INGO country director in Tanzania, he left to start a community-based initiative – and discovered that the power, relationships and access he'd accumulated inside the international system did not necessarily travel with him.
Today, as international development contracts and development professionals find themselves outside the organizations that once employed them, what happens to the power, relationships and access they accumulated? What do they bring with them, what have they lost, and how can they put what they've gained to work locally?
Please follow this link to join the discussion. And stay tuned. We hope to host more discussions on KujaLink to extend the discussions, debates, and conversations on Proximate Press.
See you in the comments section!
