Regio­nal philanthropy

The CAS Opera­tio­nal Phil­an­thropy starts in Janu­ary 2023; the module entit­led ‘Inter­ac­ting with regio­nal phil­an­thro­pic reali­ties’ will take a fresh look at phil­an­thropy and deve­lo­p­ment from a local, non-western perspec­tive. The CAS module will shed light on the deco­lo­ni­sa­tion of phil­an­thropy. In order to successfully and ethi­cally deve­lop projects across borders and cultures, phil­an­thro­pic orga­ni­sa­ti­ons must build solid rela­ti­onships with local grass­roots move­ments and/or local NGOs. The module will focus on stra­te­gies to involve local bodies in orga­ni­sa­tio­nal project plan­ning and analy­sis and anti­ci­pa­tion of possi­ble unin­ten­ded conse­quen­ces. It will also address the current debate on the legi­ti­macy of phil­an­thropy, which leads to well-inten­tio­ned, but poorly plan­ned cross-border phil­an­thro­pic initia­ti­ves. Gul Rukh Rahman, direc­tor of the Empower Fami­lies for Inno­va­tive Phil­an­thropy Foun­da­tion (ERFIP) and spea­ker at the module, says in an online inter­view with The Philanthropist: ‘There is nothing intrin­si­cally wrong with global phil­an­thropy. Howe­ver, it is highly worry­ing that all decis­i­ons are made in count­ries other than the reci­pi­ent commu­nity or coun­try.’ She talks about the north-south divide, parach­ute phil­an­thropy, global phil­an­thropy and the depen­dency culture. 

To the interview