Featured image for “Women in the Global South know exactly how to support their own communities – so why don’t we get behind them?”

Women in the Global South know exactly how to support their own communities – so why don’t we get behind them?

July 7, 2025
What does it mean for international NGOs to truly shift power? At Oxfam, we think our fund for grassroots women’s rights organisations, which is founded on the principle that our partners should decide what to spend money on, holds some of the answers. Oxfam GB CEO Dr Halima Begum writes here about a project that last week won two 2025 Charity Awards. 
Read more >>
Featured image for “Don’t start with the issue, start with the people: lessons from a legend of community organising”

Don’t start with the issue, start with the people: lessons from a legend of community organising

May 8, 2025
Duncan Green reviews a new book by a giant in the field of community organising and explores the differences between that approach to driving change and the policy-focused advocacy typically used by NGOs.
Read more >>
Featured image for “No logframe, no indicators and no workplan: what can we learn from a malnutrition project that is truly community-led?”

No logframe, no indicators and no workplan: what can we learn from a malnutrition project that is truly community-led?

April 25, 2025
What happens when you support communities unconditionally to act as they see fit to tackle malnutrition? You get initiatives that seem, on the face of it, a long way from typical malnutrition interventions, whether that’s making soap, refurbishing a health centre or starting a poultry farm. Stephanie Buell of Action Contre la Faim on the “Boolo Xeex Xibon” project in Senegal – and how it actually put the community at the centre of the fight against malnutrition.
Read more >>

Active citizens holding Britain’s politicians to account – why can’t the rest of the UK election campaign be more like this?

May 6, 2015
The UK general election takes place tomorrow. I’ve spared you so far, but on Monday I went to what has to be the most enjoyable and substantive event of the election campaign – watching party leaders and ministers being grilled by an ‘accountability assembly’ of the community organisation Citizens UK in a packed Methodist Central Hall, within spitting distance of
Read more >>