Many people I speak to in international NGOs (INGOs) feel very acutely the value drift between what they are committed to and the climate in which they work each day. At best, much of their time seems to be consumed with the bureaucracy of aid, at worst, the environment they work in is toxic. Meanwhile grassroots initiatives are starved of resources by the very institutions that were established to work towards a better world and, as development language and practice have become ever more professionalized there is a sense of moving further and further away from relationships and practices that prioritize...

  This piece originally appeared on the Bond website Our world is changing from the ground up. Whether a community-owned pub in the UK, participatory budget-making in Spain, a community endowment fund in Zimbabwe, or a post-earthquake bare-foot volunteer programme in Nepal, local communities are finding new ways of deciding things and doing things for themselves. And they are organizing themselves and the resources they have to do so. Within the INGO sector, the recent conversations about localization, resourcing and the future of civil society offer the perfect opportunity for some radical and bold thinking. As a new social renaissance emerges, there are valuable experiences and lessons to draw in from the global south.   What is...