President of PartnersGlobal Steps Down, Paves Way for Future

After 13 years at the helm of PartnersGlobal (previously Partners for Democratic Change), President and CEO Julia Roig will be stepping down at the end of the year. During her tenure, the organization enjoyed a period of impressive growth, increasing ten-fold in size and global presence while staying on the cutting edge of sustainable impact investing to support local leaders and civil society advance democracy and peacebuilding around the world.

The Partners’ board and staff wish Julia well as she embarks on a journey to develop The Horizons Project to focus on the intersection of social justice, peacebuilding, and democracy in the United States. After its successful launch under the PartnersGlobal Institute in 2021, Julia will continue to expand the reach of Horizons to a broader array of domestic constituencies. PartnersGlobal will remain focused on its core mission to support civil society to bring about peaceful and democratic change.

“Under Julia Roig’s leadership, PartnersGlobal has grown to impressive new heights. The board is proud of the way this nimble organization has adapted and thrived over the years, with Julia’s stewardship embodying our Resiliency Ethos. On behalf of the Board, I want to say how fortunate PartnersGlobal is to have had such innovative and inspirational leadership from Julia, and how pleased we are with the very strong executive team Julia has nurtured to carry us forward. We have every confidence that under the co-leadership of Kyra Buchko and Roselie Vasquez-Yetter in the months ahead, this entrepreneurial and agile spirit will continue to grow and spread throughout our programs and network.”

– Jonathan Davidson, Board Chair

Julia took the mantle in 2008 from Partners’ beloved founder Raymond Shonholtz and established new Partners Centers for Change and Conflict Management throughout the Middle East, West Africa, the Balkans, and Latin America, with support from long-standing partners at the General Electric Foundation. Committed to the values of distributive leadership for a global civil society, Julia worked closely with the expanded group of Partners Centers to shepherd a new era for the Partners Network. In collaboration with an international team and the Peace Nexus Foundation, Julia helped our Network of 20 Centers adapt its relational and operational practices for the 21st century.

PartnersGlobal’s entrepreneurial spirit is integral to its organizational DNA and is an ethos that Julia consistently embodied in her leadership model.  By building multi-sectoral collaborations with our many partners in the US and globally, the organization is a thought leader in designing and delivering new frameworks for Security Sector Reform, Anti-Corruption, Women’s Leadership, Cooperative Advocacy, Positive Peace in Action, Sustainable Mediation, Business for Peace, and Narrative Engagement. Our most recent flagship program in Civil Society Resiliency to combat closing civic space takes our investment approach in local leadership to the next level, as we work with existing organizations to adapt and respond to their rapidly changing environments. 

“When I joined Partners, I was compelled by Julia’s commitment to establishing authentic partnerships.  This approach is embedded in our organizational culture at every level of program implementation and partner engagement thanks to Julia’s model of inclusive partnership.  Kyra and I are inspired to continue this way of leading and learning as an organization and a network of peers.”

– Roselie Vasquez-Yetter, Co-Executive Director

Julia’s departure marks an important new phase in the organization’s history and builds on Partners’ commitment to our own organizational resiliency. The transition is coming at a time when PartnersGlobal has a deep bench of capable leaders and a strong global portfolio of programming. With the full support of the board, the current Co-Executive Directors, Roselie Vasquez-Yetter and Kyra Buchko will remain in their roles and continue their exemplary leadership of the organization.  

Partners’ mission and experience are uniquely suited for this moment — when the peacebuilding and development space is grappling with shifting power dynamics and a movement to decolonize aid; when resiliency support is essential for civil society to survive and thrive amidst a global pandemic, rising authoritarianism, and toxic polarization; and when peacebuilding and conflict transformation competencies are desperately needed across the globe.

“Julia’s dedicated service as President has shaped our organizational identity and leaves a lasting impact on Partners’ approach to peacebuilding and support of democratic actors across the globe.  I am honored to be working with Roselie to build upon the partnerships and achievements of Julia’s tenure and lead the organization in the months ahead into our next exciting phase of growth.”  – Kyra Buchko, Co-Executive Director

  September 25, 2021

Over the past year, we’ve compiled and shared resources, tools, articles, research, and case studies from all sectors and partners on different aspects of organizational resiliency. This month, we looked back at everything and pulled out some of our favorites. Learn more more about our work on Resiliency HERE.  

Factor: Resiliency Ethos

Learn more about the Resiliency Ethos factor in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

Patterns for Change recently released this interactive guide for nonprofits looking for behavioral guidance during times of change and uncertainty.  

How does the mind work during and after a crisis? And what we can learn from this information to create positive sustainable change? Read about it in The Disrupted Mind, a blog piece from Mindworks Lab. And dive deeper into their 6 Mindset Factors.

This is a great diagnostic tool from Innovation For Change geared toward civil society organizations working on policy and advocacy. It helps to identify their strengths and weaknesses in the policy and advocacy areas while sharing resources to address your organization’s specific needs.

In his new book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, Adam Grant draws on research and storytelling to “help us build the intellectual and emotional muscle we need to stay curious enough about the world to actually change it.” Tune in to this conversation with Adam and Brene Brown for more insights.

Factor: Adaptive Capacity

Learn more about the Adaptive Capacity factor in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

Download this GUIDE from the International Civil Society Centre about how to scan the horizon and make strategic decisions in an uncertain world.


Leadership coach Stephen Kotev explores the concept of polarities and how to manage them when trying to resolve seemingly entrenched conflicts on his blog post HERE.

How do you build up adaptive capacity? Going International works to support organizations to create a better world. They have assembled an expansive list of toolkits and manuals on everything from a diversity and inclusion organizational assessment to tools for social innovation.

The ability to adapt to change is at the core of organizational resiliency. In The Future of Team Leadership is Multimodal, Robert Hoojiberg and Michael Watkins discuss the post-pandemic future of teamwork and foresee a hybrid model of virtual coordination and in-person collaboration.

The FrameWorks Institute report, Mindset Shifts: What Are They? Why Do They Matter? How Do They Happen? explores the best practices and most effective strategies for moving mindsets.

Factor: Connectedness

Learn more about the Connectedness factor in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

The podcast, Partos Future Exploration – Shifting Civic Space discusses civil society connectedness amidst civic space challenges with CIVICUS Secretary-General Lysa John and Barbara Oosters, Civic Space lead at Oxfam Novib.

Tectonica’s new model evaluates how social movement organizing works to build power and impact political change. It draws on examples of success from movements like BLM and others to demonstrate the importance of measuring organizing and the process of learning through experimentation and failure.

Strengthening connections with our constituencies and our peer organizations is an important piece of resiliency. In her Ted Talk, How to have constructive conversations, speaker Julia Dhar discusses how to have “productive disagreements grounded in curiosity and purpose.” She says that this type of disagreement can actually help to strengthen relationships.

Check out this Platform Design Toolkit designed to support organizations in collaborating, co-creating and engaging in enriching conversations with others. 

Factor: Business Acumen

Learn more about the Business Acumen factor in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

Organizational resiliency requires a commitment to ongoing innovation. States of Change released a new playbook for innovation learning, targeting practitioners looking for new ways to spread innovation skills, methods, and tools.

Collaboration Superpowers compiled a super-list of tools and apps to help us all work better while working remotely. Check out the list here and perhaps submit a tool of your own!

And find a curated list of donors supporting activists, civil society organizations, and small, informal civil society groups at DONOR FINDER from CIVICUS.

Change is hard for everyone and navigating it intentionally can be especially important for organizations. Check out The Social Age Guidebook Series: Free Action Focused Resources from Julian Stodd for resources and carefully guided reflections around the implementation of learning, leadership, and cultural and organizational change.

Factor: Legitimacy

Learn more about the Legitimacy factor in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

Hear from Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken and Srilatha Batliwala on this NGO Soul+ Strategy Podcast talking about Politics, Power and Feminist leadership in organizational dynamics.

Don’t know where to begin in terms of increasing your organization’s legitimacy with your constituencies? Check out this interview featuring Stanford professor Patricia Bromley for insights on how nonprofits can and should balance professionalization and formalization with trust and community building.

Solidarity Action Network has compiled a repository of case studies that showcase best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from resilience practices of international civil society organizations.

According to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, “the global pandemic, the economic crisis, and our national racial reckoning of 2020 have deeply impacted the trust individuals have in all of our institutions and sectors.” Read more as Kristina Gawrgy Campbell shares four important takeaways for nonprofit and philanthropic leaders looking to build back trust.

Factor: Narrative Competency

Learn more about the Engaging Narratives factor in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

Narratives matter. They help us to make meaning of the world while also holding the power to drive and shape culture and policy change. Engaging with relevant meta-narratives in society requires capacity and infrastructure. Explore this article from Pop Culture Collaborative for five ways to strengthen narrative rapid response.

Understanding and practicing narrative competency is key to organizational resiliency, but where do you start? Take a look at this mini masterclass series convened by Future Advocacy and FrameWorks Institute UK on how to reframe the issues we care about to affect change.

Read the Center for Media and Social Impact’s Storytelling and Social Justice in Action: Leveraging Documentary Films to Strengthen Local Movement Building report for insights around the role nonprofits play on a local level as “civic network builders” and the art of storytelling and film as vehicles for empowering communities and strengthening social justice movements.

Genevieve Sauberli and Christina MacGillivray weigh in on the issue of ‘othering’ in the context of migration and migrant communities and offer a seven-step toolbox that shifts us away from zero-sum ‘us’ vs ‘them’ thinking to help us achieve lasting and impactful change. 

In 10 Website Design Best Practices for Nonprofits, Heather Mansfield postulates that websites are the foundation upon which digital communication and fundraising campaigns are built and are essential tools in narrative change.

Factor: Situation Awareness

Learn more about Situational Awareness in the Resiliency+ Framework here.

What is systems change, and why does it matter for your organization? Experts from Systems Innovation answer these questions and others in this visual and interactive presentation. 

The first draft of the Systems Innovation Ecosystem Template was recently released.  This template is designed to help you think through and define the different aspects of developing a systems innovation ecosystem. 

Navigating Civic Space in a Time of Covid from Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) – an international research program that explores how social and political action can contribute to empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict, and violent settings, with a particular focus on Egypt, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

For more on systems thinking you can watch this video presentation from the University of Hull’s Centre for Systems Studies on “An Introduction to Systems Thinking for Tackling Wicked Problems.”

  August 27, 2021

We continue to be grateful for all the wonderful and inspirational resources being produced by such thoughtful colleagues around the world that can support civil society’s resiliency efforts. Here are some of our recent favorites, from systems design frameworks to insights on behavioral change during times of uncertainty in the nonprofit sector. We hope these resources we’ve curated for our July Resiliency+ Roundup help you reflect on and reshape your personal and organizational resiliency journeys.

Check out the resources, organized by the seven reinforcing factors of organizational resiliency in the PartnersGlobal Resiliency+ Framework. 

We have also pulled the top resiliency tweets this month for a quick way to plug into the resiliency conversation. See below!

Top Resiliency Tweets

https://twitter.com/angelquicksey/status/1412889077020561409?s=21

Resiliency Resources by Factor

Business Acumen

The US-based company Donorbox disseminates a regular blog that highlights some best practices and tools for non-profit fundraising that can be useful as you contemplate different business models and fundraising tactics for your organization.

Find a curated list of donors supporting activists, civil society organizations, and small, informal civil society groups at DONOR FINDER from CIVICUS.

Situational Awareness

Hot off the presses: Navigating Civic Space in a Time of Covid from Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) – an international research program that explores how social and political action can contribute to empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict, and violent settings, with a particular focus on Egypt, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Engaging the Narrative

In Building Lasting Growth in the Digital Era, Shanelle Matthews from the Movement for Black Lives explains narrative power and how to leverage it in movement building.

Resiliency Ethos

How does the mind work during and after a crisis? And what we can learn from this information to create positive sustainable change? Read about it in The Disrupted Mind, a blog piece from Mindworks Lab. And dive deeper into their 6 Mindset Factors.

Learn about the impact of backlash and burnout on communities of color in the nonprofit sector in Backlash, Burnout, and POC Leaders by Mistinguette Smith. She offers,

“Both backlash and burnout thrive without language to expose and examine them; but once they are called out into the open, leaders can strengthen themselves and each other.”

Legitimacy

Stuck in a “Catch-22”: Why Donors Fail to Include Grassroots Perspectives on CSO Legitimacy examines the case of an East African CSO that continues to attract donors despite being considered illegitimate by the grassroots. The research identifies six legitimacy sources: professionalism, agenda, strategy, track record, membership, and governance. It finds that donors and grassroots interpret the first three sources (professionalism, agenda and strategy) in an opposing manner. Thus, the exact same characteristics that provide donor legitimacy simultaneously bring grassroots illegitimacy. The article subsequently identifies three mechanisms that explain why a lack of grassroots legitimacy is not a problem for donors: (1) donor priorities and capacities; (2) the CSO’s monopoly position; and (3) perception management by the CSO. 

The Feminist Action Lab created an open online course to help you brush up on your knowledge on feminist advocacy and intergenerational activism!

Adaptive Capacity

“For many organizations, it may feel like the most momentous things have already happened. But actually what comes next and the types of strategic decisions organizations make now will be critical to whether they can remain resilient and effective agents of equity in a complex, interconnected and uncertain world. There is clearly no way of getting strategy-making in uncertain times ‘right’, but this Guide does strongly suggest many ways in which organizations could get it very wrong. Lessons from the ‘whirliness’ of the past year suggest five key strategic pointers.”

Download the FULL GUIDE from the International Civil Society Centre.

Leadership coach Stephen Kotev posits, “Polarities are constants. They remain immutable. We cannot avoid them or deny their influence on our lives. What we can do, is embrace a both/and mindset.” Explore the concept of polarities and how to manage them when trying to resolve seemingly entrenched conflicts on his blog post HERE.

Connectedness  

In What Do Emotions, Personal Needs and Influence have to do with Community? Marianna Gose Martinelli explores the utility of the Sense of Community Index to help demonstrate community value, shape strategy, and foster collective understanding. Developed in the 1980s, this social science tool measures the levels of connectedness and satisfaction within communities.

And don’t forget to check out the podcast, Partos Future Exploration – Shifting Civic Space to discuss civil society connectedness amidst civic space challenges with CIVICUS Secretary-General Lysa John and Barbara Oosters, Civic Space lead at Oxfam Novib.

  July 23, 2021

We continue to be grateful for all the wonderful and inspirational resources being produced by such thoughtful colleagues around the world that can support civil society’s resiliency efforts. Here are some of our recent favorites, from systems design frameworks to insights on behavioral change during times of uncertainty in the nonprofit sector. We hope these resources we’ve curated for our July Resiliency+ Roundup help you reflect on and reshape your personal and organizational resiliency journeys.

Check out the resources, organized by the seven reinforcing factors of organizational resiliency in the PartnersGlobal Resiliency+ Framework. 

We have also pulled the top resiliency tweets this month for a quick way to plug into the resiliency conversation. See below!

Top Resiliency Tweets

1. Annie Neimand asks about the use of #storytelling in movements:

https://twitter.com/annieneimand/status/1404545354364719108?s=20
https://twitter.com/annieneimand/status/1408169843304460289?s=21

2. The Franklin Project is leveraging Twitter to solicit music and create a playlist that inspires individual citizens to rise up for democracy. What inspires you to engage in civic participation?

3. What are the necessary ingredients to sustain a sense of community?   

Resiliency Resources by Factor

Business Acumen

Does it always make sense to set up a nonprofit organization, as opposed to social impact business or other organizational models? Joan Garry asks this question in her recent podcast episode, Choosing the Right Nonprofit Business Model (with Rinku Sen). Garry is the former Executive Director of GLAAD and currently the Principal at Joan Garry Consulting where she provides coaching and strategic guidance to nonprofits to help them better pursue their missions.

Google’s Chief Innovation Evangelist, Frederik Pferdt, and IDEO CEO Tim Brown recently came together for a Creative Confidence series to discuss how they foster creativity within their organizations. They touched on themes from Tim’s Leading for Creativity course, which Frederik recently completed, and the importance of inclusion, psychological safety on teams, and empowering people with confidence in their creativity and the courage to act on their ideas. Listen to their conversation here.

Situational Awareness

Check out this new Scenario Canvas from Systems Innovation. “This canvas will help you get started with developing future scenarios. Scenario planning is a structured way for organizations to think about the future by creating a set of scenarios that are based upon current trends. Scenarios present alternative futures that together capture the most relevant uncertainties and driving factors.”

And in Stories, Scenarios, Exploratory Talk, and Futures Thinking, we are asked to consider the idea of engaging in “exploratory talk” to help generate new ideas and innovation about the future instead of “presentational talk” which focuses narrowly on problem-solving in the present.

Engaging the Narrative

In Systems Language for Narrative Power, Executive Director for the Narrative Initiative Rinku Sen reflects on the common use of the term “systems” and how our narratives around the term should empower people’s ability to drive change, not the other way around. She posits,

How we communicate about systems influences people’s ability to hold and use system-changing narratives. To change systems we need many people to hold and use shared stories about their ability, intention and vision to change systems.

Better understanding and measuring progress is an important part of strengthening narrative change strategies. The Measuring Narrative Change: Understanding Progress and Navigating Complexity brief offers insights into some of the questions facing practitioners, funders, and others interested in measuring this kind of work.

Systems Innovation also recently published a new guide called, Narrative Making for Systems Changers. The guide explores the role of narrative in systems change initiatives and offers insight into the different components of systems stories.

Resiliency Ethos

The psychological safety of an organization’s people is critical to its ability to function in the midst of changing and fluid environments. But how often do we stop to ensure that as an organization, we are creating the conditions to support the psychological safety of our staff? Leveraging resources from the health sector can help. A practical guide to the art of psychological safety in the real world of health and care offers insights and guidance that can be adapted to the nonprofit space. It offers an explanation of what psychological safety means, key elements to building psychological safety, and how to consider inclusion and diversity when creating conditions to protect the psychological safety of staff.

Legitimacy

News flash – listening to your constituents and receiving feedback openly matters, and not just for your organization’s reputation to its beneficiaries or populations that it serves. It matters also more and more to funders. “Leading foundations increasingly value nonprofits that have strong feedback practices. They want to support organizations that actively solicit—and act on—feedback.” Read more about how your organization can improve its listening and feedback practices in this recent blog post from Charity Navigator.

Adaptive Capacity

“As we witness the breakdown of our systems and structures, the question of how to move forward is more pressing than ever. We are being squeezed into rapid change that demands a response. There’s no more waiting until “someday” or continuing with business as usual,” reflects Bernadette Wesley in this piece titled, Crossing the Chasm without Burning Out: Leadership in the New World. She explores the idea of “power-with” structures to drive a more flexible and inclusive leadership approach in the future. Power-with structures include the following elements:

Leading Futurist Lea Zaidi shares her knowledge on how to best prepare for all possible futures, today – so that you can start building your futures-thinking skills to navigate the uncertainty ahead:

Connectedness  

In this podcast episode with Ezra Klein of the New York Times, Sarah Schulman ponders how social movements can become more effective by embracing dissensus rather than striving for consensus.

Learn how to play the Powerplay Game in What can a game teach you about power? Turns out, quite a lot. The Powerplay Game helps players understand their collective responsibility and the possibilities to shift power balances. In the game, each player gets a set of 10 power cards (which acts as assets in their “power inventory”) that are prominent in Western societies. These include things like:

Then you navigate different scenarios based on the cards you have. Read about the author’s experience and what they uncovered about explicit and implicit power dynamics, cultural and geographic factors!

  June 22, 2021

We continue to be grateful for all the wonderful and inspirational resources being produced by such thoughtful colleagues around the world that can support civil society’s resiliency efforts. Here are some of our recent favorites, from systems design frameworks to insights on behavioral change during times of uncertainty in the nonprofit sector. We hope these resources we’ve curated for our June Resiliency+ Roundup help you reflect on and reshape your personal and organizational resiliency journeys.

Check out the resources, organized by the seven reinforcing factors of organizational resiliency in the PartnersGlobal Resiliency+ Framework. 

We have also pulled 5 top resiliency tweets for a quick way to plug into the resiliency conversation. See those below!

5 Top Resiliency Tweets

1. Check out this thread from Toward Belonging for an interview with Fine Acts’ Yana Buhrer on their work surrounding the intersection of social justice and art for global activists everywhere. 

2. Decolonizing the language used in peacebuilding, development, and aid is of vital importance. See what words are being used to replace terms like ‘beneficiaries’, in this thread from Martha Awojobi.  

3. Speaking of language, the Garfield Foundation recently released a new blog series reflecting on the language and practice of systems change, a valuable aspect of organizational resiliency. 

4. Larger Us Network offers practical insights for adaptation amidst unpredictable environments and contexts with 10 key lessons to not only survive but thrive. 

5. Phoebe Tickell shares insight on how we might reframe the narrative of “innovation” to embrace more collective and systemic ways of learning and being.

Resiliency Resources by Factor

Legitimacy

Saskia Brechenmacher and Thomas Carothers put together series of essays by leading scholars and activists working in ten countries around the world—from Guatemala to Tunisia and from Kenya to Thailand—to write about their experiences and their responses to various fundamental questions: What are the sources of legitimacy of civil society? How can civil society organizations strengthen their legitimacy to help them weather government attacks and build strong coalitions to advance their causes? And how can international actors ensure that their support reinforces rather than undermines the legitimacy of local civic activism?  

Hear from Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken and Srilatha Batliwala on this NGO Soul+ Strategy Podcast talking about Politics, Power and Feminist leadership in organizational dynamics. 

In Why Ongoing Power Building Matters and How Every Nonprofit Can Do It, Louisa Hackett and Mohan Sikka share practical tips for nonprofits looking to bolster their power building efforts. The authors also charge nonprofits to “counter the boom and bust of national election cycles” with specific calls to action for the nonprofit field from capacity builders to board members, and executive directors. 

Engaging The Narrative

Check out this Toda Peace Institute policy brief to learn how activists are using technology to pursue public interests in human rights, democracy and a livable environment. It looks at how cell phone tech has upped the outreach and mobilizing game for campaigns, dives into digital storytelling and fundraising, explores key digital tools for collaboration and training, covers cybersecurity considerations and closes with a broad look at topical creative tech-based nonviolent activist success stories. Though digital tech is no silver bullet for successful campaigns, there are clear uses and recommendations to build power and win with digital technology. 

“When we use this sterile language, it limits our ability to speak to ourselves within civil society, as it is hard to inspire and energize people with talk of “sectors” and “stakeholders”. But it may also limit our ability to speak to those in power. It is often stated as fact that we need to speak “the language of government” or “the language of business” if we are to have influence, but what if this is the wrong way of looking at things? What if, rather than trying to fit in with the technocratic lexicons of other sectors, civil society saw part of its role as bringing its own language and concepts to the table and thus expanding the limited boundaries of policy debates?” Visit this Philliteracy blogpost for more on the subject. 

In an age of information and confusion, messaging and finding trusted messengers, are vitally important to the success of advocacy campaigns. Hear from, Samantha Wright, Annie Neimand and Max Steinman, as they share eight archetypes and four audience contexts to help organizers identify the right trusted messengers. 

Business Acumen

For our creative and entrepreneurial readers: In How the ‘creative-cliff illusion’ limits our ideas, David Robinson shares insights on why the assumption that our best and most creative ideas come to us quickly is not only limiting, but wrong. Robson draws on the cutting-edge research of Brian Lucas, a professor of organisational behavior at Cornell University, to uncover more on the “creative-cliff illusion”.  

Whether it be fundraising, asking for volunteers, or having people complete a survey, there’s a new Zoom tool out to help make these tasks easier. Check out this blogpost from The Democracy Labs on getting more out of your Zoom meetings by making it simple for attendees to follow your directions with Give buttons. 

Resiliency Ethos

“Recent years have provided ample opportunities to discover just how resilient civil society can be in the face of severe threats. The inherently innovative nature of bottom-up, citizen-led initiatives can be seen in response to unexpected challenges like a global pandemic as well as longer-term negative political trends like populist invocations of national sovereignty to short circuit social and political solidarity across borders.” The Rights Collaborative with partners have mapped some of the ways that civil society is continuing to innovate. 

Patterns for Change recently released this interactive guide for nonprofits looking for behavioral guidance during times of change and uncertainty. Explore one or all seven behavior guides which include individual, group, and organizational level prompts and reflections.  

The Omidyar Network, in collaboration with the Guild of Future Architects, curated The PORTALS report, inspired by a yearlong process of imagining futures beyond the pandemic. The report centers Omidyar Network’s mission of “reimagining systems to build more inclusive and equitable societies” and includes trends to watch out for in 2021 and beyond.  

Situational Awareness

“How can we measure and learn when promoting systems change? It’s a challenge that has inspired Laudes Foundation to develop a rubrics-based methodology to help us, our partners, and the wider field of philanthropy, understand our contribution to change, while learning and adapting to new and unforeseen circumstances.” 

The first draft of the ”Systems Innovation Ecosystem Template“ was recently released.  This template is designed to help you think through and define the different aspects of developing a systems innovation ecosystem.  

Adaptive Capacity

COVID and its accompanying physical distance put pressure on all of us to come up with new, creative tactics to reach decision-makers and to increase the visibility of our campaigns. Without the availability of some of our traditional in-person approaches, many campaigners  have had to pivot. Check out Tectonica’s list of online tactics that we hope will inspire you!  

“In a changed, post-pandemic environment, employees, customers, and investors have high expectations for the companies they work with. They expect companies to play a more prominent role in tackling systemic issues like climate change and social inequality, and they expect leaders to be effective, authentic, and compassionate. Leaders who want their organizations to meet this moment and succeed long-term need to move away from the status quo and change their approach to how they’ll lead the necessary transformations. The authors present four strategies for success.”  

Connectedness  

The Design Council recently published “The Systemic Design Framework” to help designers working on major complex challenges that involve people across different disciplines. Here’s what they came up with as the key characteristics of change makers.  

Did you miss the Spring 2021 #SolidaritySemester from the Building Movement Project? Catch up on the recordings and learn about:  

  • mapping your social change role and ecosystems  
  • practicing centering and co-conspiratorship  
  • building a vision of co-liberation  

View the sessions here. 

  May 10, 2021

This month, we’ve curated some timely, practical, and inspirational resources to support your organization’s resiliency. From a super-list of tools to improve remote work to reflections and advice for healing from mass trauma and loss, these resources can help you reshape and rethink your organizational and movement-based resiliency journeys.

Check out the resources, organized by the seven reinforcing factors of organizational resiliency in the PartnersGlobal Resiliency+ Framework that we hope offer you food for thought and inspiration.

We have also pulled 5 top resiliency tweets for a quick way to plug into the resiliency conversation. See those below!

5 Top Resiliency Tweets

  1. @ionaflawrence explores human relationships and the greater collective action necessary for unlocking a relationship-centered world in this blog piece titled Through Thick and Thin.

2. Feelings of belonging are critically important to the vitality of organizations and movements. @CitizenStout offers more on the topic and shares key lessons around the harmfulness of binaries and zero sum thinking and the freeing nature of polarity and imagination.

3. In this thread, @indy_johar highlights some of the structural barriers in place that impede organizations’ ability to lead with kindness and care while also encouraging us to think critically about the adversarial and competitive leanings of our current economy.

4. Adaptive Capacity is so important for resiliency. Check out this thread for insights and takeaways from Adam Grants’ new book Think Again, The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know.

5. @EnrolYourself offers a reimagined way of nurturing manager to managed relationships by way of “stewarding circles.” Learn more about how this ‘buddying’ process has led their staff to hold space for care, support, accountability, creativity, reflection, and more.

Resiliency Resources by Factor

Legitimacy

Don’t know where to begin in terms of increasing your organization’s legitimacy with your constituencies? Check out this interview featuring Stanford professor Patricia Bromley for insights on how nonprofits can and should balance professionalization and formalization with trust and community building. Bromley also discusses the effects of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector.

In her newly released book, More Than Ready, author Cecilia Muñoz discusses the agency and belonging of women of color who are no longer willing to be ‘invisible’ or left behind. She shares more on the topic in this Open Society Foundations-sponsored webinar.

Engaging the Narrative

Narratives matter. They help us to make meaning of the world while also holding the power to drive and shape culture and policy change. Engaging with relevant meta-narratives in society requires capacity and infrastructure. Explore this article from Pop Culture Collaborative for five ways to strengthen narrative rapid response.

And for those working on or interested in public health, check out this research report from USC Annenberg for narrative messaging on health equity and how media and entertainment narratives about health influence mindsets and policy. 

Narratives around politics and governance have a huge impact on our systems.  In this podcast, Karen Stenner explores the “psychological predisposition” some people seem to have toward authoritarianism on both the right and the left. Stenner also shares practical tips for addressing authoritarian tendencies and what we can expect next from countries like the US where authoritarian and populist attitudes continue to emerge.

Business Acumen

One of the main adaptations that all of civil society organizations around the world have had to confront during the pandemic is finding reliable and effective tools for remote work. Collaboration Superpowers have compiled a super-list of tools and apps to help us all work better while working remotely. Check out the list here and perhaps submit a tool of your own!

Organizational resiliency requires a commitment to ongoing innovation. States of Change has released a helpful new playbook for innovation learning, targeting practitioners looking for new ways to spread innovation skills, methods, and tools.

From “A playbook for innovation learning” by States of Change

Reinvention and innovation have to be balanced with existing programs and priorities. In Twin Engines for Propelling Social Impact, Ann Mei Chang and Laura Lanzerotti share helpful lessons on how nonprofits can balance “today’s needs with tomorrow’s potential.” 

Resiliency Ethos

Resiliency ethos is about how we think about change, how we prepare, and how ready we are to adapt and recover from disruption. We can’t imagine a bigger disruption than what we’ve experienced under COVID 19. Ed Prideaux shares helpful reflections on how we can address the need for societal healing from the mass trauma we’ve all experienced during the pandemic in this BBC Future article.

In 4 Tactics to reflect and (re)charge into 2021, Pete Ronayne and Andi Williams postulate that the “present and future of leadership and learning is about attention to resilience as recharge.” Explore their practical tips for leaders and their teams on boosting learning and performance here.

Dealing with staff burnout is a key aspect of organizational resiliency. “Research has definitively shown that burnout is an organizational problem, not an individual one. But while responsibility for preventing employee burnout rests squarely on the shoulders of employers, remedying burnout once you’re suffering from it is much less straightforward,” write Yu Tse Heng and Kira Schabram in this article. Keep reading for insights on burnout recovery.

Adaptive Capacity

Navigating uncertainty is key to being able to adapt to and thrive in challenging contexts. This article from Sonja Blignaut surfaces some of the fears and tensions we experience that impede learning and change, such as busyness, withdrawal, and paralysis. Blignaut writes, “Can we hold onto our competence while acknowledging and working with our incompetence? Can we turn our anxiety into creative energy and resist disengaging from a disconcerting world that is in dire need of us showing up?”

Each organization is unique and will deal with adaptation in their own unique ways. Eric McNulty highlights five actions leaders can take to create a positive organizational culture out of their own unique ingredients in this recent piece, The secret recipe for organizational culture is no recipe.

“Culture is less a matter of following a recipe than mastering the craft of baking, so you spot challenges and opportunities early and are able to adapt.”

– Eric McNulty

In Test Your Assumptions, James Oriel acknowledges the pressures we face when we’re trying to address big societal crises and issues and offers some tools to help.

Situational Awareness

Knowing what’s going on in the systems around you is key to staying on top of change and adapting to complexity.

Check out the US National Intelligence Council’s recently released Global Trends report with predictions for the year 2040.  The report is intended to help citizens and policymakers see what may lie ahead and prepare for possible futures.

In this piece from Open Global Rights, Krizna Gomez challenges social change actors to engage change proactively and to incorporate foresight as a key competency for our organizations.

Connectedness

Building and maintaining trust are critical components of connectedness for civil society organizations. Ross Hall offers reflections on the importance of trust in learning ecosystems and shares approaches for “weaving trustful relationships between diverse actors who are used to competing and who have different perspectives and levels of influence.”

Curious about the metrics needed to determine the effectiveness of organizing? Hear from Ned Howey on Tectonica’s new model of evaluating how organizing works to build power and impact political change. Howey draws on examples of success from movements like BLM and others to demonstrate the importance of measuring organizing and the process of learning through experimentation and failure.

From “How can we measure organising?” by Tectonica

And lastly, sophisticated facilitation skills are key to effective partnerships and collaboration. These tools from Timeout are easily accessible and can help you find practical resources for planning and generating constructive discussions with constituencies.

by Jillian Slutzker Rocker   March 19, 2021

Tashkent and Los Angeles are some 7,204 miles apart, but if you ask a local leader from either city what their most pressing issue is, you will likely get a similar answer: being responsive to constituent needs amid competing demands.  

“The most important thing in local governance is communication and transparency,” said Anthony-Paul Diaz,  Executive Officer for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. “I have 4 million bosses, and it’s my job to make them happy. We need to focus on the communities, listen to them, and deliver what they need.” 

Diaz shared his insight and experience in local government with more than two dozen new public councilors from cities across Uzbekistan, as well as state officials and civil society representatives, in a first-ever virtual exchange on good governance and civic engagement between the countries. The week-long exchange, coordinated by PartnersGlobal, was part of the USAID-funded Partnership for Innovation program, implemented by the Civil Society Development Association – ARGO and the national movement Yuksalish.  

“Everyone who is here is here not just because they want to share their knowledge but because they want to learn from each other,” said Roselie Vasquez-Yetter, Co-Executive Director of PartnersGlobal, welcoming the attendees to the event. 

She added that since the exchange was being held virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more participants from across both countries were able to join, which would not have been possible with an in-person event. The virtual format also enabled Uzbek participants to journey across the United States from their own living rooms. 

Throughout the week, Uzbek and American participants from cities large, like Tashkent, and small, like Melrose, MA, shared experiences and best practices on topics such as engaging vulnerable populations, COVID-19 response, management of water and other natural resources, and overall constituent engagement. Uzbek public councilors explained to the American participants their role as volunteer organizations representing citizen and civil society perspectives to the government.  

Representatives of civil society organizations from both countries joined in to share practical examples of how partnerships between civil society and government can strengthen good governance, citizen engagement, and constituent services. 

Delivering to constituents 

Among both American and Uzbek participants, serving their communities in difficult times like the COVID-19 pandemic was a top priority. From offering psychosocial, medical, and material support to teaming up with local civil society organizations to reach vulnerable communities, participants discussed what approaches have worked best for them and what they have been able to accomplish.  

“We are very proud that our public council has undertaken the role of a coordinator of providing support during a pandemic,” said Marufjon Kokand, a member of the public council in the Namangan region of Uzbekistan.  

Zachia Nazarzai, Director of International Affairs, Policy, & Protocol in the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti in Los Angeles, offered that this moment of local leadership stepping up could be an opportunity to reshape how government engages with citizens moving forward.  

“The changes we are making today are building the city for the next century,” she said. “We must embrace diverse ideas, experiences, and cultures in our community to transform how we operate to meet the needs of our residents, especially the most vulnerable, in this moment.” 

Local councilors in Uzbekistan, many of whom are new to their positions as public councils are a recent development in the country, asked their U.S. counterparts about the challenge of maintaining good relationships with citizens even when you can’t always deliver.  

City councilors from Melrose, MA in the U.S. suggested that being responsive, honest, and letting citizens know you have heard their concerns, even if there isn’t always an immediate solution, can go a long way.  

From the Uzbek side, Feruza Rashidova, Chairperson of the Commission on Social Development of the Tashkent Public Council, noted that the public councils could build trust with constituents over time. 

“The more challenges we overcome, the more trust we will build with the public, especially since the public councils are new here. We want to be constructive, and we need to be active,” she said.  

Participants also emphasized that local leaders must represent ALL constituents, not only those who are the loudest or most privileged, but also those whose voices aren’t always heard.  

“We can’t rely solely on community members coming to us, but we need to reach out to them and listen and learn from those who live in our city so we can really serve our community well,” said Dorie Withey, Secretary of the Melrose Human Rights Commission. 

Only the beginning for these new connections  

During the exchange, participants from both countries discovered many common challenges, such as responsive policy to climate change, and offered the tools and strategies they have used to overcome them.  And while the formal exchange is over, the informal dialogue between individuals and cities is ongoing.  

Uzbek participants, for example, offered to reach out the mayor of Tashkent to encourage the revitalization of its sister-city relationship with Seattle, after speaking with Fazliddin Shamsiev, the Vice President of the Seattle Tashkent Sister Cities Association. 

Jamila Asanova, Executive Director of Civil Society Development Association (ARGO), noted that while the virtual format meant more people could be included in this exchange it also means that connections can continue online long after the meetings have concluded. 

“It was my dream three years ago to do a virtual exchange,” she said. “My dream has become a reality.” 

  March 11, 2020

We’re celebrating International Women’s Day and Women’s History month by asking our team to reflect on some key questions.

Check out what they had to say. #GenerationEquality

What progress have you seen on women, peace, and security?

What are some of the ways PartnersGlobal and the Partners Network work to advance women’s rights?

Why do you support women’s empowerment and gender equality?

What progress have you seen on gender equality in your life and work?

What’s your International Women’s Day message?

Share a women’s empowerment moment that inspired you.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

Why do we need more women in leadership?

by Julia Roig   February 26, 2018

In the U.S. we are experiencing an amazing moment of youth activism, with the courageous voices of the survivors of the high school shooting in Florida leading to a flurry of concrete action: organizing town halls, marches around the country and sustained pressure on politicians for reform of our gun laws. Gun rights is one of the most polarizing issues in our country, and gun violence is part of why the U.S. ranks so low on the Global Peace Index (114 out of 163 countries.) Will these young voices continue to be heard and lead to real change, without increasing the vitriol and deepening polarization in our society?

I am steeped in the world of international peacebuilding and civic activism. We prioritize the role of young people through UN resolutions, and fund hundreds of youth empowerment programs all over the world alongside wonderful organizations like Generation for Peace and Peace First. Yet, how can international civil society and our funders evolve to best support young people within the current #resistance cycle of social movements, and still find ways to heal our divisions through coalitions like the Bridge Alliance that try to bring resiliency back into our democratic processes?

Some thoughts based on my most recent travels and experiences:

Strive for safe spaces where true discussion and differences of opinions emerge: I recently had the privilege of spending a week with future Slovak teachers as a guest lecturer at the University of Bratislava. We explored how to incorporate empathy, tolerance and inclusion into Slovak high schools. Like many countries in the region, Slovakia finds itself deeply divided on the issue of refugees, European integration and combatting terrorism. The students struggled to reconcile what they hear from politicians, their parents, their priests and their peers, to determine what they really think about policies that will keep them “safe” and protect the future of their country. It was a unique experience for them to spend a week deeply discussing and respectfully disagreeing with each other. While we’re “teaching tolerance” we can’t be intolerant or dismissive of conservative viewpoints that we might consider on the wrong side of liberal, progressive issues.

Supporting youth as social change agents must include a focus on collaborative leadership skills and systems thinking: I’ve been working with Rotary International for over a year to reflect on their Peace Fellowship program, and most recently, to help them develop a new curriculum for incorporating the Positive Peace Framework into Rotary’s global grants workshops. Thousands of young people have benefited from Rotary’s investment in them, and they are making a real difference in the world. Through this recent review of youth “peace” programs, we recognized the importance of incorporating systems leadership skills to broaden the definition of building peace beyond traditional conflict analysis and resolution processes. These young leaders need to be prepared to understand and engage with a range of sectors working on all the pillars of peace with the skills to truly collaborate, to build connections and establish creative partnerships for systems change.

Creative talents and new narratives are the future of peacebuilding work: We connect with each other online, through videos, transmedia and entertainment channels. Young people are shaping the opinions of the future generation. I believe through partnerships with the creative industry, peacebuilders will continue to make a difference in a changing world. That is why PartnersGlobal is working with the One Club for Creativity, Young Ones competition to invite future designers to promote a message of tolerance and inclusion, and why we’re establishing fellowships for creatives to work with peacebuilding organizations around the world. Young people have the ability to make a strong impact by raising their collective voice through arts and creative messaging.

Don’t always start something brand new, build on what already exists: After attending and speaking at the Venture Peacebuilding conference in DC in January, I was reminded again (and again) of how much we prize innovation and new ideas for the world’s young people to build peace through start-ups and impact investments. After 20 years in the sector, I can see that we won’t be able to entrepreneur our way out of conflict – rather, we need to support young people to connect dots, look around at what already exists and build on efforts that are on-going with an “entrepreneurial mindset.” It might be more exciting to start something new; and we must take advantage of unexpected flashes of possibility, like what is occurring now with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students. But to sustain efforts for real social change, young people need support to connect with and lend their talents to existing efforts and organizations. I’d like to see youth invited and encouraged to help the “old guard” evolve with new ideas. As a sector (especially those with funding), we need to stop romanticizing new start-ups that are going to “innovate” their way into peace; recognize expertise and experience and connect youth to what’s happening already to make their mark.

We will accomplish positive sustainable change TOGETHER. The old and the young; experience coupled with fresh perspectives; institutional infrastructure with social movements; technological ingenuity with old-school advocacy and coalition-building. We need different experience levels and talents. Yes, let youth lead. They are impressive and inspiring. But the change we need will not come from young people alone. It will come from all of us uniting for a more peaceful world.

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