September 20th, 2023 at 10:00 – 12:00 ET, 16:00 – 18:00 CET

Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation

Funders are increasingly talking about intersectionality – but only a few are applying it in practice, while some don’t know how to start, and there are even those who still question its value and relevance. In this session, we shared insights from the Support Program for Reducing Inequalities through Intersectional Practice, a grants program initiated by the Robert Bosch Stiftung (RBS) in 2020. We heard about the experiences of two of the program partners, Calala Women’s Fund and Global Greengrants Fund, along with RBS, reflected on the process of embedding intersectionality in their work, and shared core principles and lessons learned that can be useful for other funders embarking on a similar journey. Find out more about the program in the publication: The Transformative Power of Intersectionality.

Speakers:

Cristal Campillay, Calala Women’s Fund, Head of Care
Atje Drexler, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Senior Vice President, Global Issues
Ursula Miniszewski, Global Greengrants Fund, Director of Gender and Equity
Greta Frankenfeld, Calala Women’s Fund, Program Officer
Rana Zincir Celal, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Advisor (Support Program for Reducing Inequalities through Intersectional Practice

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Notes from the Conversation

Overarching themes

There is no recipe – funders need to figure out the way that makes most sense for them when applying an intersectional approach/lens. Intersectionality is more of a lens than “an approach.”
There is no reason to be scared or reluctant – you can learn while you go about doing it. There is no harm in trying, but funders need to be careful about inadvertently causing damage.
There are a number of principles / approaches that will make this process a more successful one – listening and moving with your partners, being attentive and reflective as a funder, flexibility, being prepared to look at root causes and recognizing power and privilege, seeking out others who are working on this to support you.
Different terminology, language exists for intersectionality, as it depends on each context and specific conditions
How can we work collectively to ensure that intersectionality isn’t misinterpreted, coopted or watered down by the wider philanthropic sector?

Intersectionality as a systemic analysis lens of power beyond identity

The word intersectionality is interpreted and defined in different ways and it can often times primarily be focused on or used as a way to talk about intersecting identities and be more identity based versus the power analysis that comes within that and within those intersecting identities.
Intersectionality as a concept might not resonate with some communities and with research there was the realization that moving from a focus on the term to a broader focus on power shifting and power analysis and addressing root causes. The term can be seen as corrupted by the global north to be less of a political term.
Intersectionality here is defined as a tool to understand the different ways someone can be fragile within a system.
The call to action is to confront positionality and make it visible.
Intersectionalty as a tool of mapping power can look like:
- Attending to personal and collective sources of injustice. Reflecting internally on the prejudices and assumptions that affect grant decisions.
- Deepening collective capacities with advisors and staff to empathize and recognize new mechanisms for strengthening movements in different regions.
- Funding small initiatives that other funders don’t fund.
- Shifting power, decision making and resources to communities to decide for themselves. Going from funding established NGOs to smaller grassroots initiatives.
To better understand intersectionality and how to be intersectional in grantmaking, the journey has to be personal (mapping individual power) and collective (mapping institutional and collective power).
Read more on how “intersectionality” is defined in this session: https://www.bosch-stiftung.de/en/publication/transformative-power-intersectionality

Approaching intersectionality with a decolonization lens

The process of understanding what intersectionality means for a foundation and for grantee partners requires working with a diverse group of people and diverse perspectives. It is important for foundations leading this work to decolonize their way of engaging with others that might work at a different pace or that have different definitions that go against the foundation’s assumptions.
When engaging in dialogues, grantee advisors are not hired consultants but thought partners that need to be heard and given freedom to pushback against the foundation, not just “service” the foundations.
There is not one specific way of being intersectional, there were many different ways of doing it.

Jumping in and leaning into the decision to experiment and dedicating resources to learning

It is important to approach the concept of intersectionality with a lot of curiosity and openness. To be able to understand what your partners understand as intersectionality, resources need to be dedicated to exploration. These grants cannot have a geographic or thematic restriction.
Grants need to be designed to allow partners to step back, reflect, and really think about how they could more deeply embed an intersectional approach to their work.
Once data is collected and feedback is received, a plunge and leap is needed. Understanding concepts that have such diverse interpretations can take a long time and there might never be a point where one definition or understanding is reached. You just have to try and learn from mistakes!

Intersectionality needs flexible funding

To be intersectional requires being in contact reflection, hearing feedback, pivoting and experimenting to see what works best in each context. This work cannot be project-restricted and needs to have the flexibility to be spent on the needed (and often slow and time consuming) processes to increase intersectionality.

Gender Justice as an entry point to intersectionality

It was discovered in a quantitative analysis that the higher percentage of grants that were focused on gender justice also tended to include more indigenous peoples and youth as well as disabilities. Data suggested that centering gender justice in grantmaking strategy may result in more intersectional grant making overall. Foundations like Global Greengrants Fund chose gender justice as an entry point to intersectionality.
Funders need to find their own entry points to make the process less overwhelming!

Work is needed within foundations to shift power

Inequitable power dynamics exist within larger foundations beyond identities. Program officers and staff navigate these power dynamics and also educate as those closest to the grantee partners.
Within leadership teams, it is not just about representation of identities but an understanding of political and economic analysis, social analysis, cultural analysis.
Within foundations change happening at different paces in different programs can feel lonely but work to “bring along” others in the foundation is necessary

Buzz words, palpability, stopping when things get difficult

There is a pursuit of buzzwords and when discussing buzz words becomes harder or their implementation proves to be harder, the sector moves on to the next. There is a need to sit with the discomfort and the complications of specificities.
Power analysis is not easy and it takes time, it is uncomfortable. There needs to be a commitment to that difficult work.