This day will expand its focus to the entire conservation system and partnerships at a global scale casting a wide gaze on inequitable power dynamics and resource allocation. We will surface tensions that exist in relationships between larger and smaller organizations, as well as funder and grantee, with a view to harnessing collective actions and principles to hold to. As we bring the Forum to a close, this day will then reflect on all that has been agreed by participants, allowing for personal commitments and systemic reform guided by a new set of shared values.
Power in a reimagined system: Using the power of the collective to make tangible commitments to pave a way forward to stronger and more genuine partnerships, and a new truly African conservation narrative.
Early Morning
Session I: Power in a re-imagined system (Plenary)
With great power comes great responsibility. From each part of the system, people hold power and wield it in different ways. Funders, International NGOs, network organizations and local organizations may be influenced by others, but how they use their power has huge implications on how other actors are able to do their work and have conservation impact. But under the surface, each grouping is made up of individuals, adding new complexity and nuance. In this session, we will discuss what a reimagined system with emerging principles could look like.
This will be a panel discussion covering the fortune and failures experienced at the higher levels of the conservation sphere:
Sparker One: INGO perspective
Grasping and giving – The inner workings of power and resource flows within International NGOs.
Sparker Two: Funder perspective
Balancing Act – How to trust partners and track impact in a decolonial age.
Sparker Three: Networks perspective
When networks represent or run away with community power.
Sparker Four: CSO perspective
Centering indigenous rights in conservation work
Late Morning
Session II: Promising Principles
Ways of doing things to help unlock the positive potential of power to bring about change
We will have 6 parallel sessions all covering different areas within the conservation space where we can explore how we can improve power sharing in practice. The goal is to identify a set of principles and these principles wil feed into a final declaration or statement as an outcome of the Forum. To give participants a chance to self-select topics to cover what has not been said, while also ensuring we cover ground that follows the morning’s themes, we will use break outs and open space technology. Here, participants can introduce topics of importance to them, or discuss pre-set topics.
Some of the prepared sessions will include the following:
Session 7: Principles for Promising funding models and grantmaking practices for advancing community-led conservation
As we build collective influence of local CSOs in shaping the narrative of conservation on the continent, we need to be informed about the winds of change in the funding world. What is shifting to meet the needs of conservation actors? What new funding models exist to localize conservation funding? And crucially, how can we influence how these resources flow? What grantmaking practices do we want to see more, or less off? What can funders commit to changing?
Session 8: Who holds the power in the fundraising marketplace?
At every level, conservation needs funds to achieve impact. Ideally the funding system would operate like a marketplace with donors shopping for the highest impact, and organizations effectively marketing their work. How does the system actually work today? What do donors do to find the most impactful organizations? How can local organizations best position themselves in this marketplace? What changes can we make to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the funding marketplace?
Session 9: Break up, break down or break through? Principles for Partnerships:
How often do we feel untrusted, or that the rules of engagement or roles and responsibilities are unclear in our partnerships? With collaboration seen as one of the most critical elements to achieving conservation impact, can we be truly honest about what harms, what is not working? How can we do better? What can we all commit to at every level to make the system work?
Session 10: Promising Organizations
Power plays into diversity, equity and inclusion in teams. This session is about the tangible ways and principles to help us shift organisational power. We will focus on levelling the playing field when building diverse and inclusive teams and discuss transitions and succession as part of a broader conversation around managing and developing talent in organizations.
Session 11: Leveling the Playing Field: Principles for Impactful Commercial Partnerships in Conservation
This session continues where we left off yesterday around principles for engaging in commercial partnerships and how to level the playing field.
Session 12: Reimagining the role of communities in conservation.
This session builds on the questions explored during Session 4 the previous day. We now seek to elevate the discussion to get “unstuck” and chart a way forward, therefore reimagining the “system” and the role Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in conservation efforts.
Gallery Walk
Participants are invited to walk around and see what each group has discussed. Voting dots will be available to select the principles, action items, and agreements that participants feel are most fundamental to the collective way forward. These will form the basis of the Declaration document.
Afternoon
Report Back
Rounding up the week that has been:
Facilitators report back on Power in Person, Power in Practice, and in Partnerships. They will bring to the fore of our memory the issues that came up and the opportunities that emerged.
The agreements captured in all sessions will be collated into a collective action document, a Declaration to be read and discussed at the close of the Forum.
From my place in the system – An opportunity to commit to personal transformation and collective action
To draw the Forum to a close, this session starts with a solo walk and then a round of reflection in small groups based on a set of key questions, including:
What do I see anew with fresh ideas, an open mind, heart, and will?
What power is problematic for me?
What has potential for me?
What power can I shift, and how?
What power can I share, and how?
What power can I hold and how?
Personal commitments will be captured individually and shared in small groups voluntarily.
The agreements captured in all sessions will be collated into a collective action document, a Declaration to be read and discussed at the close of the Forum.
Final gratitude and check out
Evening
Celebration