GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK
has always been there. On the flipside, Voice has also tried to hone its skills on providing feedback to ‘unsuccessful’ applicants. Cultivating honest and open relationships with organisations and groups whose efforts are in line with the vision of Voice yet propose a project that is a misfit to the present call, is a stepping- stone to more successful call outcomes in the future. An interesting example comes from Kenya, where the Voice team supported potential applicants working on gender- based violence and harmful traditional practices to come together at a regional forum. The participating organisations worked in the same geographical area working on the same issues but did not know of each other’s initiatives. By providing abrainstorming space, Voice supported the organisations to think about how to be more strategic in their collective and focused activities and strengthen their future grant applications.
The letter was very encouraging, I used it as a talking point to some donors to show how humane Voice is-/ was shocked that they will go to that extent to really care... When that letter came, me and my team broke down in tears and that gave us the zeal to start working again, knowing that we are not alone and that someone cares”
Irene Ojiugo Patrick-Ogbogu, Executive Director, Disability Rights Advocacy Centre, Nigeria
Part of Voice’s journey to being a responsive grant maker starts with developing the ability to giveandreceive feedback. After completing grant agreements with the original set of 71 grantee partners in 2017, the Voice team reflected on what it heard from applicants about the application process and eligibility criteria. Following this, changes were made to the income restriction criteria to incentivise young, small start-ups and social enterprises to apply as well as changes to application processes for Sudden Opportunity grants. Although Voice has not always done well for time in receiving feedback and implementing changes based on it, the intention to listen
Centring humanity in fraud cases
Integrity issues involving corruption or mismanagement of financial resources are always treated seriously. In the last five years, 15 reports of fraud cases involving a range of organisations, from smaller and younger groups to the more established ones were received and investigated by Voice. From these cases, 10 eventually resulted to termination of contract. These are unfortunate situations that we cannot fully avoid, but in the process of handling them, we learned that they can also provide a safe, respectful space for all parties to learn and grow, especially when there is a clear intention to change. They also continue to challenge us to reflect on our practices, how we can concretely demonstrate rights-based and developmental approaches even in such events, though not always successful. In 2018, Coalition of Services of the Elderly, Inc. (COSE)-an Influencing grantee partner in the Philippines then implementing their 2-year project “Enhancing Access to Social Protection Programme”, published a reflection piece highlighting their experience in handling a fraud case
within their project. It was one of the positive outcomes of the safeguarding mechanisms, as COSE not only focused on the integrity of their organisation, but also the well-being of the individual who committed fraud. Quoting from their reflection, “In dealing with fraud cases, the technical approach can be effective. But if we include compassion and a broad understanding of the circumstances and motivations of the person involved, then it becomes even more facilitating - such approach encouraged him to be more open and expressive of his feelings and emotions about the situation and how and why it happened.”
Figure 11: Campaign against ageism during the International Day of Older Persons
27
26
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease