The international development industry is having a reckoning, with many organizations acknowledging their role in perpetuating racism and inequity. However, what practical steps can organizations take to further racial justice and undo a colonial legacy? The complexities and challenges of colonization, historical, structural and institutional racism, white supremacy, and sexism, etc. have led us into partnerism. At OneVillage Partners, since 2020, we have been grappling with this challenge and will share our own journey towards shifting power into the hands of our partners. By focusing on the collective good, we can all move towards real equity.

We began by challenging norms in how communities interact with us, creating new avenues for transparency and community leadership in decision making. For example, sharing project budgets with our community partners and providing the opportunity for them to vote on their priority project areas has created transparency and impact far beyond the implemented project. Putting community voices front and center is important, but it is only part of a solution to truly shifting power.

Our evolution at the community level has sparked greater questioning and change within our organization. If we are doing community-led work in Sierra Leone, then why are we making so many strategic decisions in the United States? Despite good intentions, what has our role been in perpetuating a white savior narrative and in holding onto power? Further, we have continued to interrogate the ways in which the global slave trade from Sierra Leone to the United States has impacted the state of Sierra Leone and of racism in the US today, and how that might impact our work. These inquiries resulted in a new strategic plan and specific commitments around proximate leadership.

Our journey to be true partners with the communities we seek to impact is growing, and we are truly just scratching the surface. In this session, we will share practical tips, what we have accomplished and learned along the way, the challenges we have faced, and what we have yet to define. We will share a brief history of colonialism in Africa and how it has continued to effect development interventions. We will also share a brief history of colonialism in Sierra Leone and white savior biases, and how this has impacted our work to decolonize development interventions. We will have presenters from the US and from Sierra Leone to share the unique perspectives of each.