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The role of media festivals in strengthening independent media

August 28, 2023

Festivals taking place across the Global South are attracting increasingly global attendees. This brief discussion paper looks at four diverse examples of such festivals – Media Party in Argentina, Festival 3i in Brazil, Splice Beta in Thailand, and the Africa Media Festival in Kenya – and seeks to develop preliminary hypotheses about the nature of these events, what distinguishes them from other events in the independent media ecosystem, what they hope to achieve, and how they are evolving.It also seeks to discern patterns or learnings emerging from these festivals that suggest practical recommendations for those running, setting up or supporting such events in the future, and includes concrete examples of practices that other practitioners can learn or adapt from. We also explore the role of media festivals in the resilience of local regional and global digital native ecosystems.The report has been authored by independent consultant Sameer Padania, who was an active participant in all four festivals featured, as part of a consultancy project for International Media Support, funded by the Ford Foundation. He was a judge for a pitch session and ran one workshop at Media Party, gave three clinics and one workshop at Splice Beta, co-ran one workshop and co-moderated a donors' meeting at the Africa Media Festival, and spoke on a panel at Festival 3i. The report also draws on inputs from IMS programme managers and partners.

NNGO Voices: Leader Perspectives on Locally-Led Development

July 6, 2023

The development sector is moving towards shifting power to local development, decolonizing aid, and building a more equitable development architecture. Funders, INGOs, national/local NGOs (NNGOs), and governments play crucial roles in making these changes a reality. Humentum has published reports exploring different stakeholder perspectives, and this report focuses on the perspective of NNGOs. It presents insights from senior NNGO leaders in six African countries, discussing their perspectives and recommended solutions for power shift. This report is a valuable critical to the Collective Journey to Equitable Development series.

Annual Report 2022: People at the Heart of Food Systems

June 6, 2023

Three years since the formation of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, our organization is emerging from a period of global and institutional change. The seeds that we sowed in 2019 – a fresh and ambitious set of Strategic Objectives to transform people's lives during a climate crisis – are now bearing fruit.What do establishing urban gardens (in Kenya), 'mining' cassava alleles (in Colombia), and delivering climate information services (in the Philippines) have in common? The answer is simple: communities, institutions, and people. Urban gardens empower vulnerable consumers to feed their families. Superior cassava traits guarantee farmers sufficient yield so they profit from each harvest. Climate information services provide farmers with forecasts while informing government policies and investments in disaster risk reduction.

Regional Portrait of Catholic Care for Children in Eastern Africa: A study based on information from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia

May 16, 2023

Catholic sisters are champions of care reform. Working with governmental, civic, and church leaders, and within their local communities, they are leading efforts to transition from institutional care toward family- and community-based care. Their leadership, service and spiritual witness have advanced the common good through a profound commitment to working on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalized. Focused on east Africa, this regional portrait offers data and information on care reform and the significant shifts and progress led by Catholic sisters in the region.

Harnessing the Power of Data: Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge Impact Report

March 23, 2023

With generous support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and The Rockefeller Foundation, data.org issued an open call in May 2020 for breakthrough ideas that harness the power of data to help people and communities rebound and remain resilient in the wake of COVID-19 and its economic impact.Through the Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge, data.org sought to address a systemic issue: the majority of social initiatives don't have the budget, staff, capacity, or partnerships to take full advantage of our current data revolution. But with support, mission-driven organizations can use data, tools, and methods to make their work go further and faster, helping more people.After thorough review, we awarded $10 million in funding and technical assistance across eight exemplary awardees from a pool of over 1,200 applications, and the Paul Ramsay Foundation funded a ninth project. These awardees show the range of opportunities that exist to use data to drive social impact for workers, entrepreneurs, and communities. 

“This Is Why We Became Activists”: Violence Against Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Women and Non-Binary People

February 14, 2023

According to interviews Human Rights Watch conducted with 66 lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ+) activists, researchers, lawyers, and movement leaders in 26 countries between March and September 2022, forced marriage is one of ten key areas of human rights abuses most affecting LBQ+ women's lives. Human Rights Watch identified the following areas of LBQ+ rights as those in need of immediate investigation, advocacy, and policy reform. This report explores how the denial of LBQ+ people's rights in these ten areas impacts their lives and harms their ability to exercise and enjoy the advancement of more traditionally recognized LGBT rights and women's rights:the right to free and full consent to marriage;land, housing, and property rights;freedom from violence based on gender expression;freedom from violence and discrimination at work;freedom of movement and the right to appear in public without fear of violence;parental rights and the right to create a family;the right to asylum;the right to health, including services for sexual, reproductive, and mental health;protection and recognition as human rights defenders; andaccess to justice.This investigation sought to analyze how and in what circumstances the rights of LBQ+ people are violated, centering LBQ+ identity as the primary modality for inclusion in the report. Gender-nonconforming, non-binary, and transgender people who identify as LBQ+ were naturally included. At the same time, a key finding of the report is that the fixed categories "cisgender" and "transgender" are ill-suited for documenting LBQ+ rights violations, movements, and struggles for justice. As will be seen in this report, people assigned female at birth bear the weight of highly gendered expectations which include marrying and having children with cisgender men, and are punished in a wide range of ways for failing or refusing to meet these expectations. Many LBQ+ people intentionally decenter cisgender men from their personal, romantic, sexual, and economic lives. In this way, the identity LBQ+ itself is a transgression of gendered norms. Whether or not an LBQ+ person identifies as transgender as it is popularly conceptualized, the rigidly binary (and often violently enforced) gender boundaries outside of which LBQ+ people already live, regardless of their gender identity, may help to explain why the allegedly clear division between "cisgender" and "transgender" categories simply does not work for many LBQ+ communities. This report aims to explore and uplift, rather than deny, that reality.

Tracking International Funding to Women’s Empowerment Collectives in Kenya

July 18, 2022

In October 2020, Publish What You Fund embarked on a multi-year project to improve the transparency of funding for women's economic empowerment (WEE), women's financial inclusion (WFI), women's empowerment collectives (WECs), and gender integration (GI). We are tracking national and international funding to WEE, WFI, and WECs as well as assessing which funders have a GI approach. We have three focus countries for this phase of the work: Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Tracking International Funding to Women’s Financial Inclusion in Kenya

July 18, 2022

In October 2020, Publish What You Fund embarked on a multi-year project to improve the transparency of funding for women's economic empowerment (WEE), women's financial inclusion (WFI), women's empowerment collectives (WECs), and gender integration (GI). We are tracking national and international funding to WEE, WFI, and WECs as well as assessing which funders have a GI approach. We have three focus countries for this phase of the work: Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Tracking International Funding to Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kenya

July 18, 2022

In October 2020, Publish What You Fund embarked on a multi-year project to improve the transparency of funding for women's economic empowerment (WEE), women's financial inclusion (WFI), women's empowerment collectives (WECs), and gender integration (GI). We are tracking national and international funding to WEE, WFI, and WECs as well as assessing which funders have a GI approach. We have three focus countries for this phase of the work: Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria

Untapped Opportunities for Climate Action: An Assessment of Food Systems in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

March 22, 2022

A summary report providing a synthesis of the 14 country assessments with recommendations and priority actions.

Confronting the Climate Crisis with Food Systems Transformation: Stories of Action from 14 countries

March 22, 2022

Integrating food systems transformation into the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – the national climate actions at the heart of the Paris Agreement, is critical to delivering on interconnected ecological, biodiversity, health, economic, social, and cultural goals. Taking a food systems approach builds climate resilience and results in a diversity of context-specific solutions for food production, distribution, consumption, and waste. Yet, food systems are rarely prioritized in climate policy. This catalogue of global Case Studies complements a suite of publications that are designed to centre food systems transformation in future climate debate and policy.

Situational analysis of farm animal cruelty in large farms, general community and in relevant government authorities operating In Kenya

December 8, 2021

* This report highlights the leading farm animal welfare concerns in Kenya, and the current legislation and policies in Kenya that are relevant to farm animal welfare. It also explains the main reasons why farm animals in the country are not handled and treated well and how the concerns can be addressed.* The report is mostly based on applied qualitative methods which include semi-structured interviews and observations of usual everyday activities of farmers at 126 large and small farms, veterinarians, front-line workers such as herdsmen, academic experts, and government officials.* Key points to note include: 1. Various Kenyan laws and policies that prohibit animal cruelty do exist, and offences are punishable. 2. Many farmers in Kenya do not understand the fundamental meaning of animal welfare. They do not have specialized training in animal welfare, and are not aware of existing relevant legislation. 3. African culture, religion, pre-established practices, community involvement, economic strength appear to play a great role in influencing how farmers in Kenya handle their animals.* To improve the situation: 1. Implement comprehensive programs targeting farmers and other front-line workers in the livestock sector to help them gain a deep understanding of government regulations concerning animal welfare. 2. Engage with policymakers and advocacy organizations to generate and foster strong policies that promote welfare and eliminate cruelty to farm animals.