by Tracy Kirkland
June 08, 2005
This past April, global and regional representatives of Greengrants’ network of advisors met in Amsterdam to share ideas, strategies and plans for the future. Advisors are the cornerstone of our grantmaking. All our grants are made on the recommendation of volunteer advisors around the world who know the grassroots organizations in the best position to have an impact on key local issues. These advisors—biologists, non-profit managers, lawyers, economists, foresters, journalists, engineers and activist leaders—work together to identify groups and help us apportion our grantmaking funds among them.
Greengrants’ annual retreats are an important opportunity for representatives of each board to learn more about the work of other boards and to share ideas and strategies for effective grantmaking. They provide opportunities for improving global collaboration and deepening global activist networks. They also are an opportunity for advisors to provide important feedback to help us improve systems and better support the work of our advisors and grantees. Perhaps most importantly, these retreats remind us all of the power of a global community working together for positive change.
Working toward social change — Fundamental to the success of Greengrants is our dedication to global societal change by supporting non-violent struggles for social and environmental justice at the grassroots level. As we considered the critical elements in supporting the growth of social movements and the lessons learned in working for environmental social change, Nnimmo Bassey, Greengrants’ West Africa Advisor, used the image of the many bicycles that crowd the streets of Amsterdam as a metaphor for what makes movements what they are:
A movement is not a bicycle wheel.
The bicycle wheel has two rings. These are the outer rim and the inner hub. Between the outer rim and the inner hub are the spokes. The spokes derive their strength and stability from their connection to the hub. The hub is the leader while the spokes are the social actors that depend completely on their leader. The true social movement is a wheel that has an outer rim and an inner hub but no physical spokes connected to the hub. There are spokes that keep the wheel stable and moving, but rather than derive their meaning from the hub, they are interconnected to one another, reinforce one another and strengthen each other. No one leader, no matter how charismatic, is the ultimate image of any movement.
Strengthening social movements by providing small grants — Making small grants to the right people at the right time requires good knowledge of trends and actors on the ground. One of the shortcomings for large international organizations is the failure to appreciate the links between social and environmental movements, connections that are seldom overlooked at the local level. By supporting local community values and allowing social movements to move forward and grow organically, Greengrants plays an important role in allowing them to influence agendas at the national and international levels.
In order to illustrate how our model is empowering local groups across the globe, regional advisors from Russia, the Pacific, Mexico, and the Pesticide Action Network (a Global Advisor) gave presentations on how funding from Greengrants is allowing groups to become more active in civil society and protect their environments and basic human rights.
Pacific Advisory Board: Grants made to groups in the Pacific support community sustainable resource use, capacity building for community organizations, advocacy, and raising public awareness.
Mexico Advisory Board: Funding from Greengrants helps support local NGOs, fishing cooperatives, and individuals who are tackling key environmental issues that are not being actively addressed by the government. The board plans to expand its geographical areas of support to include Northern Mexico and the Sierra Madre region and will focus on issues of water pollution from mining sites.
Global Advisory Board Pesticide Action Network (PAN): Funding for each region is used to address such global objectives as eliminating the worst pesticides and finding suitable sustainable alternatives, increasing peoples’ food sovereignty, and supporting community-based pesticide monitoring programs.
Ten Years of Grantmaking: A Study of Grantmaking in Brazil — Amalia Souza, Greengrants’ Brazil Coordinator, spoke about Greengrants’ grantmaking in Brazil over the past decade, which offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact that Greengrants has had on social and environmental change. The results of the study support prior anecdotal evidence that our grantmaking strategy has contributed to long-term, positive social change in Brazil. Small grants have contributed in the creation of a new generation of environmental leaders and have facilitated the growth of environmental networks and organizations, all of which have directly influenced the participation of civil society in government councils and key policy debates. We look forward to providing more information on the impact of our work in Brazil in future issues, so please stay tuned.