International E-Conference Social and technological innovation
From 6th to 10th July 2020
Sessions in English will be simultaneously translated into English.
Day 1 – Monday, July 6, 2020
Social and environmental justice: the world of yesterday and tomorrow
On the first day of the conference, we will listen to the successes that civil society has achieved in recent years. Several speakers will share with us what this famous “world of tomorrow” inspires them.
Monday, July 6
9:00 - 10:00 (UK)
Let’s (re)capitalise our future!
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Maxime de Rostolan
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Nature has all the answers. The natural world is much more experienced than we are and it knows how to adapt, while as humans we weave the threads of our dependence on oil, technology, chemicals and money.
From a starting point of food, and in particular his fleeting experience as a market gardener, Maxime presents a clear vision of the options we have, which can be summarised in two radically different paths: either we keep quiet about the economic growth model, or, little by little, we go against the system to build our capacity to protect the common good.
From his initial experience in the field, Maxime has since found himself in the upper echelons of politics trying to influence ways of thinking. He shares with us the buttons to press and the courses of action to take to build a better and more resilient world.
Monday, July 6
10:15 - 11:00 (UK)
What if tomorrow’s world was female?
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Aurélie Salvaire
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The recent crisis has shown just how obsolete, authoritarian, unequal and out-of-touch our leadership has been. Countries with female leaders have fared surprisingly better, also because they are more equal countries. Perhaps parity is ultimately the key to getting out of this crisis. If women were to lead the world after all this, what would be different?
Monday, July 6
11:30 - 12:30 (UK)
Detoxifying conservationist waffle
Size: limited – Language of the session: French
Workshop by Romain Calaque
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How can we identify, deconstruct and resist waffle in conservation work in francophone Africa? The waffle that, under the guise of formulaic wording expressing concern for nature and the people who depend on it, contributes to maintaining the status quo?
The workshop will consist of three stages: an illustration of the waffle and traps to look out for; contributions from participants on the buzz words that they regularly come across; and suggestions for detoxifying language around conservation and taking back the initiative to change it, which is an essential stage of any liberation movement.
Monday, July 6
14:00 - 15:00 (UK)
Governance in African NGOs: Historical heritage and the need for introspection
Language of the session: French
Conference by Aliou Demba Kebe
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In the early 1980s, while democratic and pluralistic societies were becoming more widespread, structural adjustment programmes were emerging at the same time as State agricultural policies were failing. It is also in this context that the majority of African development NGOs first appeared. The start of their voluntary initiatives and community integration was a defining moment and largely contributed to the awakening of a conscious citizenship and the development of African democracy. However, despite this show of goodwill and the positive contribution to African development, these organisations, which were for the most part field offices of international organisations, became interfaces or copies of external forces with their own agendas, bypassing national authorities in their work with local communities and thus contributing to their weakening or at least to depreciating the image of national governments.
African NGOs are very critical and closely monitor the implementation of democracy and the rules of good governance by state institutions. It is resentful to note that for the majority of them (state instit or NGOs) the same requirements are not applied, on the contrary governance is a scourge on our times. This internal tension largely contributed to their fragmentation and proliferation in the image of political parties in Africa and also emphasised their dependence on external funding and resources. This has also resulted in increased competition for dwindling resources with all their contingencies of criteria and restrictions on programmatic uses that are often out of sync with the needs and aspirations of beneficiary partners in the field.
With a forward-looking perspective, one wonders what will happen to African NGOs if alternative forms of governance are not created to deal with the context. The COVID-19 pandemic and the socio-economic consequences of it are an alarm bell for organisations to reflect internally, as well as calling for a complete and multidimensional analysis. It calls for a new era of governance to begin, in which the autonomy of NGOs cannot be envisaged without understanding the interdependent relationships between actors, including donors and other external partners such as the sector private and public authorities. This relies on institutions’ strong capacity to reflect on their raison d’être by subscribing to a process of reflexivity to ensure that each party plays its full role.
Monday, July 6
15:15 - 16:45 (UK)
African civil society and social and environmental justice: a decade of ups and downs?
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Round table
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The battle against injustice and the mad rush to economic development is not a long and quiet river. It involves many actors in both North and South and takes place at local, national and international levels. It translates into long processes: starting over is sometimes the reality of this battle. Changing governments and elections are always a risk to recommence a negotiation that has already lasted for months or years. African and non-African civil society actors do not give up, they are always there, playing their role to stop this fire, to slow down this high-speed train, this crazy dream of “development”, some at the risk of their lives.This roundtable will allow participants to look retrospectively at the journey towards social and environmental justice in the Congo Basin, to share victories but also lost battles, and to explore the next struggles that will arise in the light of the current crises.
Day 2 – Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Governance and Inclusive Leadership
The pyramidal and ultra-hierarchical model is still the most widespread model in the civil society and NGO sector.
Many people question this model, as it seems so obvious. Others say that more collaborative is needed, but are chilled by chaotic experiences. Finally, in times of crisis, a reflex may be to regroup under someone who knows and who commands. Yet nature teaches us that collaboration is a model that works. But then how do we implement it in our organizations? Why is it so difficult? What paradigms do we need to change?
Tuesday, July 7
9:00 - 10:00 (UK)
Transforming organisations to promote initiative and collaboration
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Isaac Getz
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We often hear about how employees lack any sense of responsibility or how they are not committed enough to their job. On the face of it it’s certainly true: not many people in a traditional organisation go to work each day motivated by desire rather than obligation, and once they’re there, there aren’t many who take initiative. But appearances are deceiving. Many of these same employees are dynamic and innovative people once they leave the office. We find them building ultralight aircraft, starting charities or protecting wildlife. But any the ideas they have about their work, they prefer to share with their friends and family—not with their organisation.
Imagine organisations whose employees have the freedom and responsibility to start any initiative that they think is best for the organisation. Imagine that these organisations have been achieving peak performance in their sector for decades, as a result of exceptional innovation and the relationship with their ecosystem. And finally, imagine, that their employees are not only constantly committed, creative and see the meaning in their work, but they are also happy. Is that a complete fantasy? No! Hundreds of organisations like this exist, of all sizes, in all locations and in all sectors, services and industries.
We have observed them to understand how they work and the style of leadership that led to their transformation. We will share with you our learning on this major change to the way work is organised and how you can lead a similar change.
Tuesday, July 7
10:15 - 11:15 (UK)
Shared Governance: Promise, Illusion and Reality
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Université Du Nous / Hum – Lydia Pizzoglio et Laurent Vanditzhuyzen
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Conditioned by centuries of hierarchical organisations, we think of governance as something that is held by one person or at best, a few individuals. Adding the term, “shared” to it, creates in our minds a sort of ambiguity, yet it is an ambiguity that also gives hope to those who believe the solution to their problems lies beyond it. Finally a solution of how to move away from unilateral power, or perhaps even a shift away from power altogether, toward an egalitarian form of decision-making where all points of view are taken into account and happy consensus reigns supreme!
Like a magic wand, the concept of “shared governance” has come to answer all your pluralistic fantasies, to heal the wounds that have accumulated deep down inside those who struggle with being or feeling manipulated, dominated, dependent, or not quite finding their place, their power, the emancipation that they so desire!
Unfortunately, many people have had to face a completely different reality and have been bitterly disappointed. Because, shared governance could never keep such promises. No system or model to my knowledge could achieve these kind of results. To do so would be to ignore our differences in personality, where we are on our personal journey, our unique experiences, the knowledge we have of ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, our egos and the degree to which they are wounded. This is what comes with shared governance.
The picture may seem less rosy than at the start, but for Université du Nous, shared governance remains the path to follow to achieve a paradigm shift. It is not the only solution, but it is one way, an approach that we can take together as human beings.
The important thing is not to seek compromises between everyone on these fundamental topics, but to hold onto the founding spirit which accepts the paradox that being a living, creative and imperfect organisation also makes it fragile and vulnerable, while also accepting the possibility of its own end, just like the men and women, the people who have made it happen.
Tuesday, July 7
14:30 - 15:30 (UK)
Rethinking money in our working lifetime: challenges and new practices
Membership: Participatory intervention – Language of the session: French
Conference by Francesca Pick
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If we want to change our organisations, we can’t stop at money. More and more organisations and groups are working in increasingly collaborative and horizontal ways. But often, collaboration stops short of decisions relating to money – not always willingly, but because we don’t have the practices to change how we make financial decisions in organisations. In this participatory session, Francesca will share her experiences of participatory budgeting practices (Cobudget), alternative models of remuneration and value distribution in projects that she has had over the last few years of working with a diverse range of international teams and networks, such as Ouishare, Enspiral and work in her own organisation, Greaterthan. Together we will discuss the challenges of putting in place these types of practices and you will be invited to reflect with other participants on shared ideas and to contribute your own ideas, reflections, experiences and questions.
Tuesday, July 7
16:00 - 17:00 (UK)
How to influence, engage and inspire action through storytelling
Membership: open – Language of the session: English
Workshop by Hannah Davies
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Storytelling for leaders is a business communication skill that delivers results and that inspires and instils core values and cultivating effective culture, bringing purpose and sense to strategy within teams and clarity for clients.
During this session we shall discover the power of connection through storytelling and how to cut through the noise and make your message stick as well as creating deeper rapport and trust within your organisation.
Day 3 – Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Models of civil society funding
The traditional funding offered by institutional donors is occasional, uncertain and conditioned. They do not allow associations to develop long-term intervention strategies. The search for funding then becomes a constant stress for associations, engenders unhealthy competition in civil society and sometimes diverts them from their initial missions. Associations find themselves trapped by their donors and put their priorities on meeting the requirements of the donors rather than the impact of their activities.
Is it acceptable for Southern development strategies to be monopolized by institutional partners in the North, far from the realities on the ground? What place for the citizen? How can power be given back to the actors in the field? How can creativity and spontaneity be encouraged?
Wednesday, July 8
09:00 - 10:00 (UK)
Donors and Civil Society Organisations: dangerous liaisons?
Language of the session: French
Round table
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All stakeholders, including donors (or “funders”, but here we’re speaking more about grants than loans) agree that it is important to support civil society organisations (CSOs) because they are a necessary counter-force, especially in African countries that are characterised for poor governance.
However, this type of support reveals several problems, in particular when it comes to financial support. On the one hand, these problems relate to CSOs (Are they accountable to citizens, states or donors? Do they rely too heavily on their ‘Founding Presidents?’ Do they combine advocacy work and service provision? How well do they control the risk of ineligible expenditure? Are they exposed to corruption?) and on the other to Donors (are they too cautious in their diplomatic relations? Do they have clear sector strategies? Are their project evaluations based on their disbursement rate? Seeing large budgets as more efficient, yet they impose inefficient procedures? Afraid of corruption, but do nothing to tackle it?)
One consequence of these problems is the proportion of international grants oriented toward CSOs has for decades, been capped at a low level, compared to grants given to other ‘competing’ projects such as those of INGOs, consultancy firms, UN agencies or even research centres.
There are therefore two crucial questions left to ask: should donors give more grants to CSOs and if so, then how?
This round table aims to present these questions to practitioners; the very people who negotiate this funding on a daily basis, from both donor organisations and CSOs.
Wednesday, July 8
10:15 - 11:15 (UK)
United Nonsense – A revolution in international aid
Membership: open – Language of the session: English
Conference by Ummul Choudhury
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The industry continues to belittle, limit and lock out local people from accessing money and support (in spite of the best intentions of many well-meaning professionals). For example, in the humaniatarian field, less than 1% of Western aid money is making it to local people to deal with Covid. Instead Western actors continue to control the how and why of aid $$$
This power balance has a devastating impact on those whose lives are fractured by war and disaster. In today’s world combining technology and a desire to do aid better we can find a new path to giving better. To do this we must recognise legacy aid oragnisations are cartels, are dysfunctional and are no longer fit for purpose. What role can Western aid play in today’s world? And how can we make the aid revolution happen?
Wednesday, July 8
11:30 - 12:30 (UK)
How can African civil society organizations strengthen their financial sustainability?
Membership: open – Language of the session: English
Round table
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Many African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) find it increasingly difficult to secure financing that is aligned with their needs and priorities, covers their costs, and enables their development. While donors are often willing to fund CSOs to deliver outcome-driven programmes and projects, they are less willing to provide unrestricted funding for core organisational costs such as staffing, governance, administrative overhead, and development .
Indeed, most national and local CSOs rely primarily on externally sourced donations and project grants which often last for short time periods and are restricted to specific activities. Relying too heavily on such restrictive funding can limit CSOs in their creativity, decision making, independence, operational flexibility, and ability to adapt to local needs and priorities or changing circumstances and context. CSOs can subsequently become trapped in an endless cycle of fundraising to support both project implementation and operating overheads.
At the same time, raising external funds and managing donor relations is a time-consuming and laborious effort, which prevents CSOs from allocating these resources to their core mission or mandate and only compounds their difficulties. Eliminating these challenges requires, among other things, that CSOs become more financially self-reliant, so that they are less dependent on donors, and that donors adopt practices that promote the financial sustainability of CSOs.
This Roundtable will explore the factors leading to financial sustainability for CSOs and examples of methods used by African CSOs to diversify and generate flexible resources.
Kenya Community Development Foundation, Maliasili, Peace Direct, Well Grounded and
West Africa Civil Society Institute have each been working on this issue and will share their research and experiences on the matter.
Wednesday, July 8
14:30 - 15:30 (UK)
How is crowdfunding a civic alternative?
Membership: open – Language of the session: English
Conference by Arnaud Poissonnier
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- Background on crowdfunding tools
- Background on crowdfunding tool families (donation/debt/equity – savings/self-collection)
- What does that answer? What does it finance?
- Alternative or complement to traditional financial tools?
- Crowdfunding, its strengths and limitations?
- Where crowdfunding brings the greatest value, the virtues of crowdfunding (marketing, communication, market research, youth empowerment, product launches, etc.).
- The issue of the funding gap
- Limitations and misconceptions about the tool
Day 4 – Thursday, July 9, 2020
Managing projects in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment
In the development aid sector, project management is carried out within an extremely rigid framework. Projects are planned months or even years in advance. The associations have a duty to carry out the planned actions, within the allotted time, with the allocated budget and to achieve the expected numerical objectives.
Yet everyone recognizes that you live in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous World (VUCA). Projects start when we can’t have all the information and, in any case, situations can change very quickly due to exogenous factors.
The Covid 19 crisis we are experiencing is an excellent example of this.
How can we design projects closer to the needs of the field, learn from our mistakes and become agile to adapt to changing realities? Can approaches from the private sector, such as the Agile method, be adapted to the development sector?
Thursday, July 9
9:00 - 10:00 (UK)
Identify your raison d’être and have a greater impact
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Workshop by Aurélie Salvaire
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Our raison d’être is often changing, confused and difficult to identify. In this session we will look at practical tools to help you identify your story and how to share it so you can have an even greater positive impact on the world around you.
Thursday, July 9
10:45 - 11:45 (UK)
Logical framework or illogical bureaucracy? Reflections from African CSOs
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Round table
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This round table will explore the current practice of project development, funding allocation, project implementation, through the logical framework tool. The session will analyse the impact of these practices on the performance of organizations, on the impact of actions carried out, on the sustainability of projects and on relations with technical and financial partners. The panelists will provide a framework for reflection with theoretical contributions, experience sharing and we will open the discussion to the audience to collect experiences, questions, and ways of improving and adapting current practices.
Thursday, July 9
11:45 - 12:45 (UK)
Can we find a balance between contractual requirements and reality in the field?
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Irene Arroupe
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You’ve been working on it for weeks. And now, the planning of your project is eventually finalized! Everything is clear, well defined and under control: the objectives, the profile of the beneficiaries, the team, the budget, the planning …
Except that, when the project finally starts, reality doesn’t really match your perfect planning. Difficulties accumulate over time: negotiation and signing of contracts are slow and launch is delayed, the real needs of the beneficiaries differ from those anticipated, some members of the team resign, part of your budget is reallocated… In short, it’s a disaster!!
In this context, how not to lose all credibility with donors, as well as with stakeholders on the ground? How to deliver on the objectives and bring tangible aid to the beneficiaries? How do we adapt to our constantly changing complex world?
This session brings you insights as per how to anticipate, adapt, and deliver value, in order to fulfil your mission with beneficiaries. Together, we will explore about how to build on a new way of thinking. We will identify how to engage all stakeholders at each stage of the process, and how to plan whilst integrating change.
Thursday, July 9
14:30 - 15:30 (UK)
Outcome Mapping: An approach to put people and behaviour at the centre of planning, monitoring and evaluation
Language of the session: English
Conference by Simon Hearn
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Outcome Mapping has been used widely by organisations and programmes working on social, environmental and political change for two decades. What defines it as an approach is its rigorous focus on people and organisations that enable change in their environments, and the behaviours which are needed to sustain that change. The approach embeds a philosophy – a way of understanding how change happens – and a methodology – a set of tools and practices to apply that philosophy. This session will introduce you to the key concepts of Outcome Mapping and two of its most useful tools: boundary partners and progress markers.
Thursday, July 9
16:00 - 17:00 (UK)
How technology can create a sea change and save a sector losing billions of dollars to bureaucracy
Size: limited – Language of the session: English
Conference by Tarek Alsaleh
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The aid sector loses billions of dollar annually due to bureaucracy, a lack of trust in where Western money ends up and how it gets used. The Frontline aid tech platform solves exactly these problems; creating trust, cutting through red tape and equalising power and money.
This session provides answers as to the how of localisation. What tools are available to create transparency? How can we automate data collection without drowning in donor driven monitoring and evaluation requirements? This case study on the Frontline Aid platform provides practical solutions for all of us looking to do international development better.
Day 5 – Friday 10 July 2020
Learning and support in the digital age
For a long time, digital learning and distance animation have struggled to find their place, especially when intervening in contexts where the Internet is unstable. Trainings were simply videos to watch or PDFs to read, videoconferencing meetings were monotonous and not very interactive. But that was in the world before! Now online training is interactive, fun and multimodal.
New tools make it possible to really animate collective intelligence workshops at a distance, but faced with the profusion of tools, how to make your choice and how to use them in the best possible way? What should guide our choices?
Friday, 10 July
9:00 - 10:00 (UK)
Managing teams collaboratively and remotely with Asana
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Bastien Siebman
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Discover the Asana tool to manage your projects: its philosophy, its organisation and its functionalities! Gain clarity in the day-to-day management of your association.
Friday, 10 July
10:15 - 11:15 (UK)
Smart tools for online facilitation
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Cyrille François
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Are you tired of always searching for the right window to share on screen?
Would you like to be able to offer video clips of your sessions for the late-comers and those with dodgy internet connections?
Do you want to share your presentation and yourself talking at the same time? Without you always being in miniature!
In short, do you want to make your online sessions more dynamic?
I do and I’m going to introduce you to the world of streaming and share some simple and/or free tools that can meet these aspirations.
Friday, 10 July
11:30 - 12:30 (UK)
Facilitate online co-development groups
Size: limited – Language of the session: French
Conference by Olga d’Almenas
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Olga will present the challenges of co-development groups and how, thanks to the application she has developed, she restores the quality of the human experience.
“The E-Codev on SquareMeeting, a platform dedicated to remote collective intelligence, allows groups to work together on professional issues. During the session, everyone comes up with a problem. The group chooses an issue to work on in particular. The person whose subject is selected explains his or her situation before answering the group’s questions for clarification. The challenge of co-development is to help the person whose subject is being discussed to step back from his or her situation in order to approach it from another perspective. The participants who help the person whose subject is selected learn a great deal for themselves thanks to the facilitation of a skilled facilitator. For more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bixkCeFxw0o&t=3s”
Friday, 10 July
14:30 - 15:30 (UK)
Online training and workshops: Is Africa ready?
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Round table
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This round table will explore two experiences of e-learning in Africa, one from the private sector and another from civil society. The “Change the game Academy” (https://www.changethegameacademy.org/fr/) provides free online training to learn how to mobilize local resources and funds. Bellomar Learning (https://www.bellomarlearning.com/eb-courses-2/), which offers paid training to develop a professional activity such as the manufacture of cosmetics or the marketing of plastic waste.
What technical solutions have they used, what feedback have they received from their customers? How do they see the development of e-learning in Africa? You will be able to question them live.
Friday, 10 July
16:00 - 17:00 (UK)
Are MOOCs a solution for the future to support CSOs in Africa ?
Membership: open – Language of the session: French
Conference by Lionelle Ngo Samnick
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After a peak in the popularity of online learning, MOOCs have been criticised for a number of years for their high dropout rates and the lack of success in attracting target audiences, particularly in countries in the Global South and in Africa. These trends are not inevitable however, as the experience of the “Objectif 2030” initiative shows. Since its launch the number of learners as increased almost 20-fold and it has reported follow-up rates of 53%, well above the average.
What lessons can we learn from this initiative? How do you build engagement around MOOCs? How can we create an ecosystem of solutions that support emerging development projects? What role can MOOCs play in this environment and how can online courses be adapted to support African CSOs?
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An event organized by
Well Grounded
