Monday marked my last day with Firelight.
When I joined Firelight in 2014, our mission was – as it is today – to support communities in Africa to care for their own children and youth. But, we were a completely US-based organization in terms of our board, our staff, and our systems and practices. Today, I am so proud to share that we are an African-led and -centred organization, with our grantmaking, capacity strengthening, and learning and evaluation all guided by and often led by the community-based organizations (CBOs) and communities we work with across eastern and southern Africa.
My own transition out of Firelight is part of this larger organizational journey to shift power and recentre leadership and decision-making closer to the people, communities, and countries we are in solidarity with and seeking to support.
I’ve been processing my thoughts and emotions in preparation for this transition. Here are a few things I am particularly proud of being a key part of –
- Our co-learning and co-creation with CBO grantee-partners that led us to embrace and operationalize community-driven systems change.
- Moving away from traditional Global North criteria to select grantees, and instead focusing on the legitimacy held by local organizations in their own communities and with local stakeholders; and helping them to strengthen their collaboration with their own communities and stakeholders.
- Focusing on what communities and CBOs want and need to do in their communities to create positive change that lasts, rather than funders’ shifting interests.
- Our approach to evaluation, learning, and knowledge building that centres community priorities, objectives, questions, methods of learning and data capture, and use of data. We also emphasize community-driven MEL – prioritizing CBOs’ learning and accountability with and for their communities, rather than the funder’s interests.
- Ensuring Firelight is both guided by and accountable to CBOs and communities. We instituted formal and informal, direct and anonymous/confidential, ways for CBO grantee-partners to give feedback to Firelight, but also to proactively and strategically guide our organizational approach, systems, and practices – for example, through CBOs serving as Advisors to Firelight.
- And so much more!
I am grateful for all that we have achieved, and also for all the mistakes and learnings we have made together – as I have grown as a professional and as a person through all of it. But most of all I am grateful for the care, grace, wisdom, and friendship that has permeated each interaction and each process I have worked on with colleagues within and outside Firelight over the last 10 years. Thank you all for all that you have taught me and shared with me.
If you’re wondering about my next steps – I’m honoured to be providing interim management support to the Elevate Children Funders Group for a few months, and will also be taking on some consulting work. 🙂
Thank you all for your wishes and support!
Sadaf Shallwani
Sadaf Shallwani 