Blossoming at a new dawn – 30 years of Indonesia for Humanity

The following text was originally delivered as a speech by Kamala Chandrakirana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Indonesia for Humanity in October 2025. Published here, it forms part of a series of essays about Possible Now (see the first here: Possible Now and the Journey from Machine Mind to Garden Mind).

Kamala Chandrakirana, Indonesia for Humanity (IKa) Executive Board Member

It took us quite some time to find the right word to describe the process we are undergoing and the ideas we are developing. For us, choosing the right word is truly important because, before taking the next step, we want first to dismantle old ways of thinking, awaken imagination, and build connection with an idea in the making.

It turns out that nature itself has provided a clear path to describe a condition in which something is in the process of becoming — emergent. A moment full of vulnerability yet carrying the promise of renewal. A state of being that demands courage to engage in the act of creation amid uncertainty while facing the risk of complete failure. Our choice fell upon the word merekah — to blossom — after receiving input from a friend who grew up in the world of plants.

According to the Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), merekah has multiple meanings, and we feel that all of them are deeply fitting for telling the story of Indonesia for Humanity’s (IKa’s) third phase in its evolution as a resource organization.

How rich the word merekah is!

Allow me to share the story of IKa and its thinking through the multiple meanings of this word.

Merekah: Cracks in the earth

Friends, the funding system that has long supported civil society is like cracked earth — no longer able to serve as a sturdy, liberating and sustainable source of life. A structure built roughly 40 years ago once opened doors for the rise of a third force in the socio-political sphere of the Global South: civil society organizations. Yet, this structure has lived with internal contradictions that can no longer be managed.

This funding model stands on a global economy full of inequality and injustice — legacies of colonialism. As a result, in efforts to address poverty, strengthen collective capacity, uphold human rights and social justice, and promote gender equality, there are two classes of actors operating within unequal power relations: those sitting in the donor class with the privilege of resources, and those working on the ground with roots in communities. In this model, having no independent resources to sustain their work, civil society organizations have learned to speak the language of donors, adopt their methods and often imitate their behaviours. Access to donors has become a competitive arena among organizations dependent on such funding, creating hierarchies within our own ranks. The continuous funding flows from decade to decade have generated a sense of complacency, turning money into the measure of institutional capacity and breeding a culture of dependence.

The abrupt decision of the President of the United States to shut down USAID and halt all international aid to countries in the Global South was an event that made the cracks in the foundation of civil society funding even more visible. There is no longer any denying that this funding model is inseparable from global political economy. Russia’s war in Ukraine and the financial crisis faced by NATO as Europe’s wall of defence have led donor countries in the region to cut budgets for human rights and gender-equality in order to finance weapons purchases and strengthen their security forces.

These fractures cannot simply be patched here and there; the damage is structural and fundamental. Even the dream of achieving the SDGs by 2030 has now fallen apart — we need only to refer to the World Economic Forum’s projections that the world will instead face a poly-crisis: intertwined ecological, economic, social, technological and political crises.

This cracked-earth condition in the world of civil society funding — a ground that is no longer stable and has become barren — is a sign of the end of an era. And all this is happening amidst widespread turmoil, greed and brutality.

We are reminded of the reflections of an activist-thinker imprisoned shortly after the First World War, Antonio Gramsci. His observation, written from prison, resonates strongly today: “The old world is dying, and the new world is struggling to be born; now is the time of monsters.”

Merekah: The breaking open of fruit skin

Friends, merekah also means the splitting open of fruit skin.

Dissatisfaction and disagreement with the power imbalance and the stark inequality between donors and activists had long been felt — well before Trump and Putin shook the world. Efforts to seek other paths, to live outside or at the margins of the donor system, have emerged in various places.

Fifteen years ago, in 2010, this was the path chosen by IKa. We broke away from the old model dependent on donor funds, fully aware of the consequences. IKa also realistically accepted the emerging fact at the time that major donors preferred to open their own local offices in Indonesia, especially during the Reformasi era.

Despite having no donor funding, IKa began its liberation from the culture of dependency by building self-reliance through bonds of solidarity within social movement spaces. The movement combatting violence against women was a strong and reliable starting ground, particularly beginning in 2002 when Pundi Perempuan was created as a collaboration between IKa and Komnas Perempuan — a partnership that continues to this day.

In this spirit of liberation, IKa felt it necessary to affirm its identity as a resource organization and distinguish itself from philanthropic organizations with large and secure donor funding that were beginning to emerge in the country. To do this, IKa had to unlearn long-standing habits of chasing donors. Without money and without the patronage of any donor, IKa became more aware that its wealth does not lie in funds, but in something far more enduring: trust and wide networks at the grassroots. IKa adopted the language of “sharing to empower”, where everyone — givers, receivers, managers and interpreters — are equal members of a collective called the Komunitas Pemberdaya (Community of Enablers).

The process was full of disruption — like fruit skin breaking open. With no anchor donors, only modest resources, and an anxious attempt to introduce a new language to the public, IKa moved forward with uncertainty and the constant risk of failure.

Merekah: The rising of dawn

But merekah also means the breaking of dawn.

Through its interactions with transnational social movements, IKa began connecting with similar organizations abroad — resource organizations founded and driven by activists who shared similar concerns. A collective awareness emerged out of shared experiences in a donor system filled with power imbalances. From here, a movement rooted in the Global South was born: #ShiftThePower.

This movement simply created spaces for encounters — spaces to deepen shared understanding, exchange experiences and inspire one another in seeking new paths. Yet even this “simple” act became a source of strength and energy, fuelled by the refusal to wait for major donors to change themselves or their ways — especially after the failure of the so-called “Grand Bargain” in 2016 to address deep inequalities in the aid system.

Through the spaces created by #ShiftThePower, followed by the Possible Now initiative, we now have spaces of mutual support in exploring and testing new working methods and new paradigms. Interestingly, the source of innovation comes from institutions at the margins of the system — far from established centres of power. It turns out that marginality can be an advantage (not a deficiency), because it allows the emergence of imagination unbound by domination and dependence — imagination that is genuinely emancipatory.

Friends, if we look and listen closely, we will know that dawn is beginning to rise and cannot be held back. We must move forward with full awareness of the vulnerability of this process. The brightness of dawn may quickly be followed by darkness due to thick, spreading clouds. We must ensure that what is beginning to grow under this new dawn can be nurtured and sustained. This dawn refers to a different world — a more just and peaceful world for all humans and Earth’s creatures. Consider the reflection of Arundhati Roy: “Another world is not only possible. She is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” Intriguingly, in English, this different world is feminine.

Merekah: The flower opening

The final meaning of merekah is the blossoming of a flower. So in IKa’s world, what kind of flower is beginning to blossom at the age of 30? Naturally, this flower is shaped by its identity and conviction as a resource organization.

Looking back at its founding in 1995, we know that IKa was born from, by and for social movements. The three founders are figures whose commitment and track record are unquestionable. From the beginning, IKa was established to support grassroots movements with small but flexible support, inclusive in the spirit of universal humanity, and courageous in confronting injustice and carving new paths. 30 years later, we remain convinced that our ways of working are not only relevant but necessary: small, flexible, inclusive and bold. How often IKa says these words: “We do not want to become big. We want to become many!”

In its mission, IKa prioritizes building self-reliance within social movements and is committed to not merely financial resilience but to the nurturing of movement sovereignty and regenerative capacity. As a resource (sumber daya) organization, IKa understands daya in its fullest sense: energy, strength, ability, capacity, effort, force, agency. Thus, the resources mobilized and exchanged are diverse: knowledge (including memory!), funds, networks and voluntary contributions.

In this process of merekah, IKa holds the conviction that the dominant economic system — with all its inequalities and injustices — can be replaced by something more just and humane through movements from below. Why such confidence? IKa draws strength from the observation of sociologist Manuel Castells: “The economy is not simply related to culture: economy is culture.” Economic practices are human practices, determined by people embodying their ways of being and thinking, their interests, values and projects.

The flower blossoming in this merekah phase carries a foundational intention within IKa’s collective consciousness: the intention to free ourselves from the culture of dependence on the dominant donor system. This calls for new ways of thinking and working, requiring a cultural transformation in how civil society lives and organizes. This intention evolves the initiative “sharing to empower” (berbagi untuk berdaya) into “sharing for our mutual livelihoods” (berbagi untuk saling menghidupi), envisioning an ecosystem that celebrates diversity, thrives on solidarity and commits to building shared pathways.

IKa believes such an ecosystem can be built from small spaces where we stand and sit as equals, collectively opening new pathways with responsive, dynamic and accountable collective leadership.

Nobel-winning chemist Ilya Prigogine observed that when a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to transform the entire system into something with a higher order of existence. This resonates with the Berkana Institute’s model of the life cycle of organizing: beginning as networks, then developing into communities of practice committed to shared ways of working and eventually evolving into new, empowered systems.

A Pact for Mutual Reliance (Pakat Keswadayaan) being developed by IKa is an invitation to walk together in creating a social contract within civil society — one that nurtures, sustains and grows mutual-reliance built from our social, cultural, economic and ecological roots. This path would be created collectively through spaces that are collaborative, reflective and egalitarian, positioning the social movement — with all its diversity — as an ecosystem that mutually nurtures life through an infrastructure for the sharing of resources. [Note from the GFCF: see How a New Economic Imagination May Help Movements Reclaim Agency and Construct More Just and Solidarity-Based Alternatives, a summary of Kamala’s remarks from an October 2025 webinar on reimagining civil society resourcing.]

We envision this infrastructure for sharing be built jointly by the stewards of the Pact in their respective contexts, together with their partners, and supported by responsive, sound and accountable governance. Within these spaces, resources — in the form of knowledge, funds, networks and volunteerism — are exchanged, enriched and synthesized into new and liberating sources of strength, autonomy and sustainability for social movements.

This initiative carries a long-term intention: ensuring that the world of social movements actively contributes to — and benefits from — an economic order that is just, generative and rooted in solidarity, as part of a broader, substantive transformative agenda. Therefore, alongside civil society organizations working in victim assistance, community organizing, education and advocacy, Pakat Keswadayaan also invites — and indeed relies on — the considered involvement of community-based economic institutions grounded in the values of humanity, justice and democracy. The time has come to build shared strength between grassroots, non-profit civil society organizations and like-minded partners in the world of credit unions, cooperatives and social enterprises manifesting economic creativity and productivity. We believe this dream is attainable and is the call of our times that can no longer be ignored or delayed.

IKa marks this day as the beginning of a long-term work agenda to connect kindred spirits into an ecosystem of sharing for our mutual livelihoods, bound by a firm commitment to pursue genuine mutual-reliance. In the next three years, we will prioritize building a strong foundation together with early companions in this journey. If successful, by the centennial of the Indonesia’s Youth Pledge and Women’s Congress of 1928, we will have something to contribute from the grassroots to the broader national effort to realize the aspirations of sovereignty, well-being and humanity in Indonesia.

Allow me to close with the voice of one of our predecessors from a century ago — still ringing loud today. Listen to the words of R.A. Kartini, pioneer of women’s emancipation, in her letter to Mrs. Abendanon-Mandri written on 13 August 1900:

English translation: “Oh! How amazing, how beautiful it is to discover a feeling, an idea that comes from a part of us that we love, and to share it with others — and this as an invisible but strong weaving of threads from one heart to another and bringing us closer together more than any association has done, even over many years!”

By: Kamala Chandrakirana, Indonesia for Humanity Executive Board Member