Community-centred approach to humanitarian work. Rachel Kiddell-Monroe interviewed.
Description
In this week’s episode, we talk to Rachel Kiddell-Monroe, founder of the SeeChange initiative, which seeks to take a stand in the humanitarian sector and centre communities in a decolonised approach.
Rachel tells us about taking a community-centred approach to humanitarian work which is built around connection, engagement, co-design, and reflection. They have developed practical, open-source frameworks to incorporate the needs of the communities they work with.
Rachel emphasises the importance of not only personal reflection, but also taking a stand and speaking up in spaces of privilege, acknowledging that there is a risk.
Rachel Kiddell-Monroe is an activist, lawyer, and humanitarian who has worked for many years in leading positions for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).She also founded the student-led group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines and is a Professor of Practice at McGill University in Montreal, Canada where she leads a course on Decoloniality and Humanitarian Action.
In 2018, Rachel founded SeeChange, a Canada-based social purpose organization that works to impact humanitarian organizations to shift to a more community-centered approach, contributing to a decolonization of the sector. SeeChange and MSF cooperated on a successful 'CommunityFirst' pilot project in which MSF teams co-created health strategies with affected communities in several countries.
SeeChange also uses this community-centered approach in its work with Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic region, where the organization supports TB and mental health initiatives that are co-created with the community. In recognition of her work in this field, Rachel was appointed an Ashoka Fellow in 2023.
If you’re interested to find out more about SeeChange, take a look here:
Recommended resources:
SeeChange’s CommunityFirst Tools
- CommunityFirst Framework
- Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (PMEAL) Toolkit
- Video about CommunityFirst pilot project with MSF
SeeChange’s Decoloniality Resources
United States
