For many years the aid and development sectors have been criticised for perpetuating racial stereotypes and bias in storytelling. Some organisations are beginning to acknowledge and address the dimensions of racism that pervade development narratives. However, more is needed to explore challenges and solutions and to understand if our storytelling has long-lasting impacts on our ability to deliver change.
This IIED Debates event will bring together storytellers and development sector representatives to consider their role in creating and deconstructing racist narratives. They will discuss what type of impact they are having on our collective ability to identify lasting solutions for people that experience extreme poverty.
Reflecting on a recent study that explored race and racism in development narratives, our panel will share their experience of colonial and racist language, framings and storytelling in development. Speakers will explore what different organisations are doing to create and deconstruct racist narratives, what is happening in the donor ecosystem that we can learn from, and what role the donor community can play in challenging racist narratives.
About the speakers
Gabriela Flores Zavala (moderator) is a senior strategic engagement and communications professional with over 20 years of experience in sustainable development and humanitarian assistance organisations, programmes and initiatives.
Marie-Elena John is a Caribbean writer whose novel, Unburnable, was published in 2006. She is an Africanist, development and women’s rights specialist, currently serving as the senior racial justice lead at UN Women.
Natalie Lartey is advocacy and engagement manager in IIED’s Communications group. She is leading IIED’s work to address racism in internal discourses, and external narratives about sustainable development.
Joan Okitoi-Heisig is a freelance communicator and a part-time writer interested in telling the stories of women of colour in #Globaldev and how they are reclaiming their space in a sector rife with racial injustice.
Sheela Patel is the founder and director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) India, which is based in Mumbai, and works in partnership with the National Slum Dweller Federation and Mahila Milan.
About IIED Debates
This event is part of the IIED Debates series. Through the convening of expert speakers and external stakeholders, IIED brings together an international community to discuss critical issues.
IIED Debates encompass both physical and digital events, including critical themes, breakfast debriefs and webinars. These events are public and are hosted regularly throughout the year online and when possible in our London and Edinburgh offices.
About attending
Webinars are online workshops that people can attend via the internet from their desk or portable internet device.
This webinar will use the Zoom video conferencing platform. For those who have not attended a Zoom webinar before, please read this guide to participation as an attendee.
The event will be recorded to be distributed publicly afterwards. By registering for this event, you agree to give your consent for this.
The information you provide will be held on our database to process your booking. We do not share data with any third parties. We may contact you in the future about other IIED events. Please let us know if you do not want to receive any further information from us.
This event will have British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation and live transcription. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email [email protected].
Juliette Tunstall ([email protected]) is IIED’s internal engagement and external events officer
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Previously Published on iied.org with Creative Commons License
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