Localisation, Racism and Decolonisation: Hollow Talk or Real Look in the Mirror?

Why is this important and why now?

Unprecedented anti-racism protests across the globe, triggered by George Floyd’s death, put a spotlight on deeply ingrained historic and systemic racist attitudes and racial discrimination that deny people their fundamental human rights, and challenges us to consider our own blind spots. The protests have – finally – created an opportunity to speak openly about racism in the ‘humanitarian’ and wider aid sector, where underlying attitudes of superiority and discrimination, and negative narratives such as being labelled corrupt, incapable, unable to be principled and high risk and untrustworthy, undermine the quality of relationships between international and local and national organisations and stymie progress on localisation.