‘This movement wasn’t led by one person; it was collective and organic…’ Bill Omondi and Beverly Wakiaga reflect on last year’s protests to offer some thought on how INGOs and progressive organisations can show real solidarity.

If the development sector is serious about decolonisation, it must stop confusing optics with real, transformational change, argues Awssan Kamal.

The failure to deliver for poorer countries and the Trumpian backlash against free trade has shaken the dominance of the liberalisers and deregulators, says Duncan Green. He reports back from a recent gathering where experts unpicked emerging themes in a chaotic time for global trade policy: including the shift away from the multilateral system to bilateral treaties; and the heartening success of countries from Rwanda to Vietnam to Ecuador that have defied the old consensus.

Many NGOs are now in danger of neglecting ethical communications as they chase desperately needed funds. But as Jess Crombie argues, ethical storytelling – or as she prefers ‘equitable storytelling’ – isn’t a ‘nice to have’, but rather one of the tactics that will help to raise the money to sustain delivery of aid.

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. 

Here in Nigeria, and around the world, programmes too often fail to deliver the diet that children aged 5-19 need to thrive, says Tolulope Jayeola, who is a Youth Partner of the NGO Emergency Nutrition Network. She introduces a new paper that sets out how they can get better food and a real voice in programmes, with a core demand of at least one nutritious meal a day.

If you want to understand the progress of LGBTQIA+ liberation in Lebanon’s capital, our nightlife is a great place to start, says Ghiwa Abi Haidar. In a blog for Pride month, she looks back at a scene that has suffered bouts of brutal violence and censorship but where queer people are today once again finding rare freedom and radical joy on the dancefloor.

As powerful nations turn inwards and multilateral institutions falter, alternative coalitions need to step into the breach to push for global progress. Such flexible and diverse groupings will be most effective if they are based around issues and deploy new tactics to seize every chance to shape international norms. Len Ishmael, Stephan Klingebiel and Andy Sumner explain the concept of ‘like-minded internationalism’.

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.

The blockade of food, water and relief that has brought so much hunger and suffering to Gaza is the latest example of the growing use of starvation as a weapon of war, say Lawrence Robinson and Désirée Ketabchi. That’s why Oxfam has become a founding member of the Coalition Against Conflict and Hunger – a group of civil society organizations set up last year to end the deliberate use of starvation tactics in conflict and promote the protection of civilians and humanitarian space.

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.

FP2P’s Duncan Green has a shiny new blog about activism, influencing and change, hosted by the LSE, which we’ll be sharing highlights from here. You can also subscribe here. In this post from the new blog, he shares some advice from humanitarian leaders in this bleak time for the sector – including talk more often to staff and partners, “watch the fog closely” and “don’t blabber” – and offers a couple of thoughts of his own.