True change happens when we shift focus from short-term aid to sustainable, community-initiated solutions that support proximate leaders to drive their own futures. We are advocating for the sector to fund faceless impact by challenging everyone to look beyond picture-perfect projects and invest in the essential backend work—the systems that allow organizations to grow and thrive for years to come. We believe in ethical storytelling that moves beyond narratives of pity and charity, rejecting the single-story lens and saviorism.
#STOP THE PITY: UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL
Early on our advocacy focus was on the funding of community-led development was at the bottom of the barrel as far as funding and understanding of the impact of their work entailed. So for many years, the core of our work and advocacy was around bringing awareness to community-led or locally-led or localization work. MAMA HOPE advocated for flexible funding earlier on, giving community members and its leaders the authority to decide what funds could do for them and not what the donor wanted the funds to do.
However, to do this, it was important to remind the world that community members and their leaders were people, humans, just like us, who didn’t require pity so as to be supported. We boldly said #StopThePity where we wanted to shift the focus from sympathy and pity to dignity and respect.
The #StopthePity campaign ran from 2012-2018 and was very successful. It ran alongside us advocating on the importance of flexible funding, allowing communities to own their futures. And guess what? It worked! Major players now see localization as a key pillar to sustainable development.
#StopThePity Articles