Decolonizing OneVillage Partners: Where We Are and Where We Have To Go
A letter from Jill LaLonde, OneVillage Partners Executive Director
Last February, I wrote a blog post about our efforts to define and take action to decolonize our work and organization. I wrote that we must start by keeping ourselves accountable, and as such, I’m providing an update on what we’ve achieved in this space, where I think we’ve fallen short, and a few areas of focus for the future.
Achievements
DEI and Decolonization Board Committee: What began as an informal working group around decolonization has become an official Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) and Decolonization Board Committee. We have representatives from our Board of Directors, staff in the U.S. and Sierra Leone, and academics with expertise in these fields. Like other Board Committees, this group is tasked with helping to carry out our strategic plan, and each year sets goals and activities to move their work forward.
Compensation structure: We updated our pay scale in Sierra Leone to address a variety of challenges, equity being a substantial one. We were not paying competitively when compared with peer and aspirational peer organizations. Last year, we overhauled our pay scale to be responsive to decision making and responsibility required in the role, and an individual’s performance within the role. We significantly increased pay ranges so that we are in line with top employers in the industry and much better reflect increases in cost of living and market fluctuations.
External communications: One of our goals last year was to critically analyze the way we communicate – with each other and externally – and be intentional about the language we use and the images we employ. This work has led to embracing Ethical Communications to drive our Brand Guidelines and how we communicate our work, as well as a new Orientation Deck to get new staff, Board Members, volunteers, and others up to speed on the history of colonialism in Sierra Leone, the foundations of our work, and to convey our work to others.
Sierra Leone-based conversations: We started our organization’s decolonization journey by engaging our white colleagues in the discussion around anti-racism work and decolonization. We felt that it was our responsibility to learn, and not something with which we should burden our Black colleagues. However, we came to see that while we must define and commit to action as white folks, our Sierra Leonean colleagues also have interest in the dialogues around racism and colonization, and have since begun conversations with them, too. How do historical events impact the way they view the world, international development, and white individuals? These dialogues have been key to our movement toward partnerism and shared understanding.
Receptiveness to our journey: Sharing this work and language has not led to scaring away donors. In fact, we ended 2021 raising over $1M in revenue for the second time ever in organizational history. Our audiences and supporters are receptive to the direction we’re growing in and moving towards.
Where we’ve fallen short
There were two areas we committed to last year that we haven’t yet accomplished:
Collectively define OneVillage Partners’ approach to decolonizing aid and development. While we have made some exciting progress in various aspects of this goal, defining our organizational approach to such a massive topic has been challenging. One challenge is that the more we dig in, the more we have to define, learn and unlearn, and change. I don’t know that we will ever have a comprehensive statement on what it means to us to decolonize development. However, I am excited about some upcoming updates to our mission, vision and values statements, which help to shape our approach.
Draft a Compensation Philosophy to guide the review and updating of our pay scale. As noted above, we overhauled our pay structure in Sierra Leone. I am pleased that this has been corrected for immediate challenges. However, we are still very much grappling with how to define pay and benefit equity between the U.S. and Sierra Leone. We have been in conversations about defining a “living wage” and “middle class,” and how we might benchmark salaries in various locations against one another based on the cost of living, transportation, medical care, etc. But how do we operationalize this? We will continue to work through these complicated questions this year.
Future aspirations
We have a lot of ideas that we are exploring for the future, some closer than others. A couple of highlights include:
A shift to partnerism: Coined within Riane Eisler’s body of work, Partnerism refers to the intentional shift from a legacy of domination to a system of partnership, where together we “support human thriving and the survival of our planet.” You can find tons of great information, language, and resources on the Center for Partnership Systems website. For OneVillage Partners, this means we see each individual as adding value to our partnership, which becomes more than the sum of the individuals combined. Everyone has a unique role in advancing our mission– from our partners in Sierra Leone who are best situated to define what they need to improve their wellbeing, to those of us in the U.S. who are proximate to potential funding and raising our profile.
Strategic planning: As we work to finalize our new strategic plan, we are enthusiastic about incorporating what we have learned and what we aspire to do into our organizational strategy. We seek to determine how our community partners can meaningfully engage in strategic organizational decisions, to shift power, and to lean into partnerism. We are excited to share with you our new strategy and bold ambitions and commitments in the coming months!
We continue our commitment to dismantling the traditional system of aid and international development, and we will continue to update you and hold ourselves accountable. I look forward to sharing more lessons learned and updates on our actions as we work together towards a more equitable and just world.