INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK 2022: Go f0r the goals
To kick off International Development Week 2022, we welcomed OCIC members, member partners and many more to collaborate, critically reflect, learn, and plan for action at our Global Citizens Forum 2022 on ‘localization’, Career Panel and SDG Innovation Lab on Dignified Storytelling. Through panels, storytelling, workshops, podcasting and other creative mediums we seek to explore ways we can re-imagine international cooperation, solidarity and ‘localization’, particularly from the perspective of small and medium-sized organizations (SMOs).
All events were held online with Zoom.
Closed captions in English were available at all sessions.
SDG Innovation Lab
Global Citizen Forum
Career Panel
SDG Innovation Lab
Watch the recording of Day 1: Keynote Performance by Poet and Playwright Chief Moomen & Dignified Storytelling Panel here.
Read the SDG Innovation Lab Report here.
Download the ‘OCIC SDG Innovation Lab’ Participant Package (PDF) | (Word). In this package you will find:
- Land Acknowledgement
- Code of Conduct
- Full Program and Speakers
Overview
The concept of “leaving no one behind” is at the core of the 2030 Agenda and vital to the achievement of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It demands that all of society participate in dialogue and action towards sustainable development, and that marginalized communities are heard and engaged at the local, national and international level. In recent years, storytelling has been used as an effective tool to reach a diversity of communities in society and to establish a bottom-up approach to achieving sustainable development.
Stories can have a powerful impact on identifying local priorities, inspiring grassroots action and informing policy level change.
As a Council that is working to achieve global social justice, human dignity and participation for all, OCIC’s Innovation Lab 2022 seeks to unpack the power and principles of dignified storytelling with insights from storytellers around the world. Our goal is to educate participants about the foundations of dignified approaches to storytelling, encourage participants to pledge to embrace dignified storytelling in their engagement with local communities, and provide the platform to apply learnings to a storytelling project.
Goals
Educate – Learn about the 10 principles of dignified storytelling
Pledge – Encourage commitment of stakeholders to the pledge as part of engagement and communications with local communities.
Engage – Provide a space and platform for Innovation Lab participants to practice dignified storytelling in alignment with the SDGs, and to think about how engagement with local communities using storytelling can inspire action within the community and around the world.
Target Audience
Open to the public, ideal participants in OCIC’s Innovation Lab 2022 include individuals interested in reflecting upon and advancing their current storytelling practices and may include:
- Communications professionals in OCIC member organizations and other interested organizations
- Youth who are active or aspire to get involved in the international cooperation sector and want to learn more and make connections
- Others interested in gaining knowledge and skills in dignified storytelling
OCIC SDG Innovation Lab: Dignified Storytelling – February 11-12
OCIC’s SDG Innovation Lab 2022 unpacked the power and principles of dignified storytelling with insights from storytellers around the world. Participants learned about the foundations of dignified approaches to storytelling, were invited to pledge to embrace dignified storytelling in your engagement with local communities, and applied learnings to a storytelling project.
Day 1: Keynote Performance by Poet and Playwright Chief Moomen & Dignified Storytelling Panel
February 11, 2022
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST
Chief Moomen, Ghanaian performance poet, playwright and creator of theatrical spectacles, shook the stage during his performance at the Dignified Storytelling Forum at Expo2020 Dubai in December 2021. We were honored to have him join OCIC as our keynote performer during International Development Week 2022. Chief Moomen has over 15 years of experience in the performing arts and has been featured on various stages in Ghana, Singapore, Nairobi, Dubai, Lagos, Germany and London.
Following his performance and presentation, OCIC was thrilled to welcome Ragy Saro, Head of International Organizations at Expo 2020 and lead on Dignified Storytelling, Dubai; Tina Sweeney, Sr. Officer, Outreach and Partnerships, Cuso International; and Kath Clark, Communications Co-director, InterPares, and Tristen Scheider, indigenous youth facilitator, advocate and entrepreneur to share the 10 Principles of Dignified Storytelling and share insights on how we can apply them to shape and reshape the way we tell stories within the international cooperation sector and beyond.
Day 2: Ethical Storytelling Lab & Creative Storytelling ColLaboration
February 12, 2022
9:30 AM – 4:00 PM EST
OCIC and Danielle Khan Da Silva, Executive Director, Photographers Without Borders, held a free ‘Ethical Storytelling Lab’, followed by the opportunity for Creative Storytelling ColLaboration and reflection with peers!
Global Citizen Forum
Download the Global Citizens Forum 2022 Participant Package (PDF) | (Word). In this package you will find:
- Land Acknowledgement
- Code of Conduct
- Full Program and Speakers
- Localization Resources
Watch the recordings here.
Localization Resources
We compiled the following resources, recognising that there are different perspectives and understandings of what ‘localization’ means, and questions regarding the relevance of the ‘localization’ agenda to diverse stakeholders in our sector and work and whether it is the right term and focus at all. This alphabetical listing provides different viewpoints and perspectives.
Articles and Reports:
‘Catalysing locally-led development in the UK aid system’ – Bond
‘Fostering Equitable North-South Civil Society Partnerships’- RINGO
‘Localizing the 2030 Agenda’- BCCIC
‘Localize or Perish: What you Need To Know About Localization” – Cooperation Canada
‘Time to Decolonise Aid’- Peace Direct
Unpacking Localization’- International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
Recommandation du CAD sur le renforcement de la société civile
Short Summary on the Recommendation
OECD Brochure on the Recommendation
Standards and Principles:
DAC Recommendations on Enabling Civil Society
Doing Development Differently Principles
Podcasts and Videos:
‘Disrupt Development’ podcast series – particularly the episode on the localization agenda
‘Localising the SDGs in Your Community’ (Youtube Video) – Together Ensemble
‘Rethinking Development’ podcast series
February 2, 2022
Global Citizens Forum 2022 Welcome
Contributors
Kimberly Gibbons – Executive Director, Ontario Council for International Cooperation
Elizabeth Tuck – Special Events Coordinator, Ontario Council for International Cooperation
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Exploring the OECD DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society
Watch the recording here.
This panel brought together high-level experts, policy makers, policy analysts and other professionals for a conversation around the OECD DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society, approved by OECD Development Assistance Committee members, including Canada, in July 2021. The panel intended to share the nature and content of this Recommendation, its significance for small and medium-sized organizations (SMOs), how SMOs can advocate for changes in Global Affairs Canada (GAC)’s support for civil society through the Recommendation, and the opportunities for improving conditions facing civil society from a global south perspective.
Moderator
Brian Tomlinson – Executive Director, AidWatch Canada
Contributors
Anabel Cruz – Director, Communication and Development Institute (ICD) of Uruguay
Marilyn Bachmann – Policy Analyst, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, France
Susan Pereverzoff – Director, Global Citizens Division, Global Affairs Canada
Carmen Zubiaga – Founder and Executive Director, Women with Disabilities Leap to Social and Economic Progress, Inc (WOW-LEAP), Philippines
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‘Localizing’ Food Systems
Watch the recording here.
This panel brought together different perspectives around the ‘localization’ of food systems, food justice, and ending hunger. We explored grassroots initiatives from an Indigenous perspective, what it might mean to ‘decolonize aid’, and how community-led approaches are used by organizations working to end hunger in Argentina, Canada and internationally.
Contributors
Marisa Giraldez – Executive Director, Banco de Alimentos, Argentina
Theresa Rempel Mulaire – Conservation Agriculture Program Manager, Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Celeste Smith – Founder, Cultural Seeds
Geneviève Talbot – Program Officer – Africa Hub, Solidarité Union Coopération
FEBRUARY 3, 2022
Connecting Mind and Body thru Yoga
OCIC held an interactive yoga session with the aim of re-centering our mind and our bodies. This hour-long guided session was inclusive to varying abilities, body types, ages, and yoga experiences and participants may turn their cameras off. This space allowed us to reflect on the many learnings from throughout day one of the forum and prepared us for a second day of learning and collaborating.
Contributors
Nikki Martin – You can learn more about her on her website here.
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Feminist Approaches to ‘Localization’
Watch the recording here.
Oxfam Canada is on a journey to apply a feminist approach to all its work – both in terms of outcomes and ways of working. Applying feminist principles requires us to rethink current ways of working in the international aid sector. This session unpacked how ‘localization’ is part and parcel of an intersectional feminist approach. Drawing on its interviews with local women’s rights actors working across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and on its experience supporting the leadership of local women’s rights organizations in its international programming, Oxfam shared reflections and lessons learned on this crucial topic.
Contributors
Brittany Lambert – Women’s Rights Policy and Advocacy Specialist, Oxfam Canada
Farwah Qasim – Program Officer, Oxfam Canada
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Maintaining the Gains – People, Projects and Partnership in the Time of COVID-19
Watch the recording here.
This session was organized and led by the Primate’s World Development and Relief Fund
For the past two years, PWRDF, together with its partners in Burundi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Tanzania, and with support from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), has carried out two one-year projects that have responded to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Designed to maintain the gains achieved through the four-year GAC-funded, ‘All Mothers and Children Count’ (AMCC) program, these projects have supported vital COVID-19-related work. In this panel PWRDF’s Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, Bart Dickinson, together with partners from Village Health Works, Burundi; the Diocese of Masasi, Tanzania; and EHALE, Mozambique, explored the impacts of COVID-19 through the data they have gathered and through real-life experiences on the ground. They discussed how this has both made possible new work, and challenged existing ways of working. And they explored how COVID has changed the ways it has impacted how we live out our partnerships.
Moderator
Sophie Kiwala – PWRDF Representative for the Diocese of Ontario (Kingston and area)
Contributors
Bart Dickinson – Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, PWRDF
Ramula Issa – Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, EHALE, Mozambique
Witness Mushi – Gender Officer, Diocese of Masasi, Tanzania
Melchiade Ninganza – Program Manager, Village Health Works, Burundi
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Haitian Women at the Forefront of Community Solutions and Locally-led Change
In this panel speakers shared insights on how community-led and grassroots solutions are transforming communities in Haiti. It built upon the conversation between leaders from Rayjon Share Care Canada, Rayjon Share Care Haiti, and the Haitian Women’s Federation in OCIC’s ‘Tapestry 2030’ podcast and illustration series, Season 1 (available here), focusing on how grassroots actors, particularly women, are the drivers of sustainable change.
Moderator
Safa Shahkhalili – Producer, OCIC ‘Tapestry 2030’ Season 1
Contributors
Denis Côté – Policy Analyst, Association Québécoise des Organismes de Coopération Internationale (AQOCI)
Miselande Parisien – General Secretary, Fédération des Femmes de Haut-Saint-Marc (Haitian Women’s Federation, Haut de St. Marc)
Heather Smith – Executive Director, Rayjon Share Care Canada
Renaud Thomas – Community Coordinator and RSCH Manager, Rayjon Share Care Haiti
Career Panel
Watch the recording of the panel discussion on career journeys in the international cooperation sector here.
Download the ‘Career Panel’ Participant Package (PDF) | (Word). In this package you will find:
- Land Acknowledgement
- Code of Conduct
- Full Agenda and Speakers
Part 1 – Introduction to OCIC & How to Get Involved
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM EST
Interested in learning about what the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) does? In this session, OCIC staff shared the work of the Council, how to become a member, and some of the steps in their journeys leading to where they are now.
Facilitators
Marilyn Bastedo – Membership & Administration Coordinator, OCIC
Aniqah Zowmi – Community Engagement & Gender Equality Specialist, OCIC
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Part 2 – Panel Discussion: Career Journeys in the International Cooperation Sector
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EST
OCIC, Centennial College, Humber College and St. Paul’s University College at the University of Waterloo were pleased to present a conversation between panelists, sharing insights on their career journeys in academia, civil society, government, non-profit leadership and entrepreneurship. They offered experience and advice on navigating the job market and shared perspectives on the many disruptions and shifts underway in the international cooperation sector and work at large, particularly in the context of an ongoing global pandemic, and what that means for students pursuing careers in the sector.
Moderator
Eliana Fleifel – Communications and Content Specialist, OCIC
Contributors
John Abraham – Continuing Lecturer, International Work Placement Manager, INDEV, Masters of Development Practice, St. Paul’s University College, University of Waterloo & OCIC Board Director
Stéphanie St-Laurent Brassard – Senior Development Officer & Public engagement, Government of Canada
Allison Coady – Sr. Development Officer, Partners in Health Canada
Kumaran Nadesan – Chief Strategy Officer at 369 Global Inc. and Founder of comdu.it
Kareen Wong – Life and Leadership Coach and owner and Principal Consultant at Kareen Wong Consulting
