Guest Series: Embodying Change 4 – Nasra Ismail, Director of the Somalia NGO consortium

In this conversation, Melissa Pitotti talks with Nasra Ismail, Director of the Somalia NGO consortium. They talk about wellbeing in the context of the localisation agenda in humanitarian aid and why conversations about wellbeing require us to consider our privilege and to think about our work in radically new ways.

Nasra is the director of the Somalia NGO Consortium and currently lives in Mogadishu, Somalia. She cares particularly about women’s rights, rights of minorities and people of colour, generosity and healing as ways to transform her own leadership and the issues the coalition tackles in the sector she works in.

Her motto this year and decade is for all of us to connect with the communities we serve through the everyday practice of grace, coalition building across differences and laughter. And she loves to shine a light on others through her use of social media platforms. You can follow her on Twitter @nas_isms

Melissa Pitotti has been working in humanitarian affairs since 2003 wearing different hats: donor, UN member state, multilateral, NGO coalition, independent. She’s also a mom, bookworm, and burnout-survivor. She is currently collaborating with Mary Ann on a project being incubated by CHS alliance looking at building care and compassion in aid and in humanitarian work.

This episode is part of a special series of conversations entitled – Embodying Change: A series of conversations on care and compassion in Aid and Development curated by Mary Ann Clements and Melissa Pitotti and in partnership with CHS Alliance, Global Fund for Community Foundations, Healing Solidarity and Change Making Women Podcast. This episode was produced and edited by Ziada Abeid and the music was written and performed by Eleanor Brown who you can find at eleanorbrownmusic.com

Find out more about ‘Cultivating Care and Compassion in Aid and Development’ an initiative being incubated by CHS Alliance here: https://www.chsalliance.org/get-support/article/compassionate-organisations/

Guest Series: Embodying Change 2 – Care and Compassion with Shuhba Chako & Artemisa Castro

In this conversation, Mary Ann talks with Shuhba Chacko in India and Artemisa Castro in Mexico. They consider together how we might cultivate caring and compassion in our organisations and movements.

Shubha Chacko is a joyful activist who has drawn strength, knowledge, and warmth from strong alliances and friendships forged with people from different walks of life. She is the Executive Director of Solidarity Foundation, an NGO that supports grassroots level organisations of gender/sexual minorities (LGBTIAQ+)and sex workers by building collectives, capacities and connections with resources. The broader goal is to enhance leadership of those currently excluded. Solidarity Foundation also works with companies and other organisations on their LGBT journeys. Shubha is also a researcher and has authored books, reports and articles and has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences.

Artemisa Castro is Executive Director of Fondo Acción Solidaria(FASOL) in Mexico. She is also a member of the Global Funders Alliance for Social Environmental Action. A biologist by training, she founded a local organization in Baja California Sur in the 1990s to spark and develop community action both to improve the local social and environmental conditions and to empower local women. This led to her collaboration with a group of other environmental activists and ultimately to the founding of FASOL in 2007, the first fund in Mexico dedicated to supporting grassroots community action through a programme of small grants, mentorship, capacity building and networking. Artemisa’s dog also makes a special appearance in this episode!

This episode is part of a special series of conversations entitled – Embodying Change: A series of conversations on care and compassion in Aid and Development curated by Mary Ann Clements and Melissa Pitotti and in partnership with CHS Alliance, Global Fund for Community Foundations, Healing Solidarity and Change Making Women Podcast. This episode was produced and edited by Ziada Abeid and the music was written and performed by Eleanor Brown who you can find at eleanorbrownmusic.com

Find out more about ‘Cultivating Care and Compassion in Aid and Development’ an initiative being incubated by CHS Alliance here: https://www.chsalliance.org/get-support/article/compassionate-organisations/

Find out more about ‘Pathways to Power Symposium’ being co-ordinated by Global Fund for Community Foundations here: https://globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/what-we-stand-for/shiftthepower/a-symposium-on-people-led-development-pathways-to-power-new-ways-of-deciding-and-doing/

Guest Series: Embodying Change 1 – Space and Wellbeing with Penelope Sanyu & Eshban Kwesiga

In this conversation, Mary Ann talks with Penelope Sanyu from Femme Forte (www.femmeforteug.org/) in Uganda about how she links space and wellbeing in her work. They are joined with Eshban Kwesiga who has experienced the spaces Penelope creates and who also shares his perspective on her work and it’s importance.

Penelope Sanyu is Team Leader and Founder of Femme Forte in Uganda. She is a young lawyer, thinker, writer and author, policy analyst, solution architect and Agent of Positive Social Change and Transformation. She has dedicated most of her career to building the capacity of young people to innovatively engage with and influence public policy in various spaces. She has experience using social arts as a tool for socio-political transformation and has organized several social arts platforms at a national level. Penelope has a wealth of knowledge working with Civil Society Organisations, the women’s movement and feminist organisations in Uganda.

Eshban Kwesiga is very interested in feminist scholarly thought. He has written on the limitation of economics as a tool to feminist progress. Eshban has also curated conversations for men in consent. His includes advocacy for inclusion of an anti-gender pay gap in the Minimum Wage legislation, legislation against sexual offences, advocacy to have more women in Uganda’s security forces and agencies and access to contraceptives for women and girls.

This episode is part of a special series of conversations entitled – Embodying Change: A series of conversations on care and compassion in Aid and Development curated by Mary Ann Clements and Melissa Pitotti and in partnership with CHS Alliance, Global Fund for Community Foundations, Healing Solidarity and Change Making Women Podcast. This episode was produced and edited by Ziada Abeid and the music was written and performed by Eleanor Brown who you can find at eleanorbrownmusic.com

Find out more about ‘Cultivating Care and Compassion in Aid and Development’ an initiative being incubated by CHS Alliance here: https://www.chsalliance.org/get-support/article/compassionate-organisations/

Find out more about ‘Pathways to Power Symposium’ being co-ordinated by Global Fund for Community Foundations here: https://globalfundcommunityfoundations.org/what-we-stand-for/shiftthepower/a-symposium-on-people-led-development-pathways-to-power-new-ways-of-deciding-and-doing/

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