For years, the peacebuilding, humanitarian and development sectors have grappled with how to decolonise attitudes and approaches across our work. Although there has been significant discussion and greater acknowledgement of the structural racism underpinning the sectors, it hasn’t been easy for all to identify what practical steps to take.

Peace Direct has recently released a new guide, Transforming Partnerships in International Cooperation, to take this conversation further. This guide builds on the findings of our previous reports Time to Decolonise Aid and Race, Power and Peacebuilding, but has a more action-focused, operational perspective.

Based on consultations with 200 participants from 70 countries, Transforming Partnerships discusses the problems affecting partnerships between entities in the Global South and North, including neocolonial attitudes. It then lays out a new approach to partnerships, prioritising local ownership, flexible funding, and key shared values. In its final section, the guide offers comprehensive recommendations to transform every aspect of partnerships.

In this Brown Bag Lunch discussion, Peace Direct’s Global Advisory Council member, Sawssan Abou-Zahr, and CEO, Dylan Mathews, will share the findings of the research. They will reflect on the ways current partnerships undermine local practitioners and their peacebuilding, development and humanitarian work. Crucially, they will explore how we can move forward, working together to build more equitable partnerships.

This discussion should help provide greater clarity on what an active approach to decolonisation looks like for INGOs and the EU.