Finding support is tricky for all humanitarians who are passionate about getting their dream off the ground, especially for those just starting out.
This is particularly true for the eight community-led organizations that we’ve been working with in Nairobi. Through numerous conversations we’ve had about their needs, one topic keeps coming up – the need for training. While community leaders have tried to access private training programs on fundraising, they have proved too expensive, leaving them struggling against well-trained competition.
We at Alight have seen this injustice too many times. Refugee-led organizations are often excluded from funding simply because, unlike us, they haven’t had the privilege to be carefully trained on the intricacies of grant proposal writing. We see capacity building as our obligation, employing our own privilege to equip our customers with the skills and tools that they need to take full charge of their destinies, working for autonomy and agency not dependency.
Superstar colleague Zeinab had serendipitously just returned from a training on fundraising for humanitarian agencies, and we saw our chance. Her trainer was eager to join in our work with the LGBTQI community in Nairobi, and our partner organization ORAM were excited to join us in organizing the logistics – that’s the beauty of bringing people in!
Together – in just two weeks – we managed to organize a full two-day training on how to seek, apply for, obtain and report on international funding, which the community loved!
But we know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we remember all too well how many attempts it took us to lock in our fundraising skills. We’re following the community closely on this journey to support them however we can as they start putting these skills into action!
Meet Jamie! Jamie is Alight’s Global Inclusivity Advisor based out of London, UK, and works with our teams internationally to ensure marginalized communities are given the tools necessary to live lives filled with joy, meaning and purpose. He is particularly passionate about working with LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees in East Africa, who are some of the world’s most vulnerable. Need to contact Jamie? Feel free to reach out: jamiec@wearealight.org.
