FHG's 2021 Re-Power Report
Thanks to our team, community collaborators, clients, and other supporters, 2021 was a great year!
Overview
We collaborated with 5 communities and 250+ participants!
We refreshed the FHG brand and updated our website to make it a better reflection of our bold mission.
A member of our senior leadership team became CAPM certified after passing the exam on her first try!
We launched our Art Works™ programme in collaboration with the Newburg Boys & Girls Club in the city of Louisville, Kentucky.
Percentages based on results of live polling during the summit and a post-summit survey
Listening + Amplifying
We used several methods to LISTEN and capture community voices, including using 22 community surveys.
And then we did our part to amplify those voices, including launching social media campaigns and securing news coverage—such as these new stories—
Quotes taken from open-ended comments made in post-engagement surveys.
What We Said in 2021
The Loaded Language of Development
What is meant by Global North vs Global South
Remittance vs Foreign Direct Investment vs Official Development Aid in 2019
Bob Marley - Legend and Development Icon
On C.L.AI.R.A. and Tech Bias in the United States
The Neonatal Epidemic: An Income-Based Battle
In the News: The Taliban Take Over Afghanistan
In the News: Earthquake in Haiti
About the Re-Power Report.
The Re-Power Report is an FHG annual report that gives a brief overview of our activities related to our work of collaborating with communities and assisting greater numbers of underserved peoples in responding and leading the discussion on development at different levels, but especially locally.
Why publish an annual report?
At Findlay House Global, we advocate for accountability at all levels, and that cannot happen without transparency. But our advocacy goes beyond simply talking the talk because we are committed to leading by example.
We have decided to publish our version of an annual report for the same reasons a nonprofit organization would:
To build trust
To shed light on our vision:
To inspire others to join our mission:
and to thank all our supporters (collaborators, clients, and cheerleaders!)
Why not call it an impact report?
At FHG, it’s about having the right perspective. We see our roles as helping to facilitate impact, but we do not pretend we can presume impact upon the people with whom we work. Instead, we choose to center their experiences, stories, and voices.
In the community development space, a lot of organizations are eager to demonstrate their impact in the form of evaluating predefined goals against quantifiable outcomes. While predefined goals can make many things easier in terms of monitoring, there are limitations, and even downsides, to relying on these goals to assess true impact.
Our work with communities has taught us that:
collaboration is an open-ended process.
Entering any community with predefined goals negates any opportunity for the community to define success for themselves.
Predefined goals and preset targets ignore, or at best underestimate, the broader and more complex dynamics associated with collaboration, which include: productive synergies, intangible change processes, and reinforcing longer-term outcomes.
A New Year's Message and Birthday Wish From Our Principal
By Cara-Marie Findlay
FHG Principal Consultant
Happy 2021 Everyone
...and Happy Birthday Findlay House Global!
January 1 is a special day for many reasons, even aside from the new year, it’s the day that Haiti—the first Black republic—was born, after a revolution that defeated imperial France; Sudan, French Cameroon, Brunei and the Czech Republic also gained their independence on January 1 as well.
The first of January also has special meaning for Findlay House Global (FHG). Although I started my journey as an independent consultant and contractor back in January 2012, FHG officially became an LLC on January 1, 2019.
We’re celebrating our birthday all month long, and our birthday wish includes you!
For too long, terms like: agency, activism, community development, economic development, international development, government policies, have been made to feel as though they are beyond comprehension for the average citizen, no matter the country.
And the fact is, “development” affects everybody.
Every country, regardless of its economic status, is engaged in some form of development—be it the expansion of infrastructure or the expansion of human rights.
FHG is working towards ensuring our birthday wish comes true! We want greater numbers of underrepresented people to lead, speak, engage, and respond to the development dialogue and planning process taking place at different levels—locally, nationally and globally.
Development in our cities, neighborhoods and villages, “community development,” should not be happening without us. We should have a say in the decisions being made that will affect us and our families, especially those of us who have found ourselves being marginalized, underserved and underrepresented.
FHG is ready for 2021, and we are committed now more than ever to making greater numbers of people aware of the sociocultural conditions that shape our lives; and the possibilities of their transformation, especially through the levers of development and social change—academia, policymaking and practice.
We’ve even updated our handle on Instagram and Twitter to @repower_intldev, to better feature the stories and work of the people, communities, and organizations that inspire us to change the face of development so that the development sector is led and owned by impacted peoples, until ultimately it is no longer needed.
If you’re curious about our use of the word Re-Power, you can read more about our Re-Power Development℠ Framework here.
I’m so grateful for all the awesome partners who have entrusted us with their projects so far, and I’m looking forward to the new partnerships and new projects on the horizon!
But most of all, I’m thankful for the AMAZING individuals who make up FHG’s team! Each of you show up with equal parts dedication, innovation and excellence, and FHG wouldn’t have made it to this point without you. The best way I know to thank you for your labor of love is to work hard so that we continue to rise together and can bring more likeminded people with us. Thank you for not only believing in me and the mission and vision of FHG, but for making FHG your own. I will be forever grateful.
This is just the beginning!
One behalf of the entire FHG team, here’s to a happier, healthier, and more prosperous year!
May 2021, be our best year yet!
One love,
Cara-Marie Findlay