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Dates: September 23, October 28 & November 25, 1-2:30 PM ET (Zoom Meeting)
Cost: Free
Although many ENGOs are making intentional efforts to hire more racialized and Indigenous staff, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) are currently in the minority in our sector.
With BIPOC staff experiencing numerous workplace challenges which contribute to high turnover rates, we have heard a strong need from the sector for more BIPOC support. BIPOC staff want a brave space where they can share challenges freely. Recognizing the challenges, White/European leaders also want a brave space to give their BIPOC staff the opportunity to gather with their racialized and Indigenous peers for support.
To address these needs, we have created the BIPOC Ears Only space: a free, virtual, monthly space, only open to BIPOC in the ENGO sector.
What can you expect in this space? At the first meeting in September, participants will get to know each other, share challenges of being BIPOC while working in the ENGO sector, and explore which topics and approaches will be of the most benefit to our group. This space is for BIPOC, by BIPOC, and we look forward to learning how we can best support each other.
People who identify as BIPOC, racialized, and/or Indigenous, including people with mixed ancestry and work in the ENGO sector are welcome to attend. Indigenous staff are also welcome to attend the Indigenous Ears Only program which is a part of our Decolonizing ENGO First Nations Partnerships program.
Monthly meetings will be held via Zoom on September 23, October 28 and November 25 from 1 PM to 2:30 PM (ET). Sessions are free but pre-registration is required.
Register for the September meeting here by Tuesday September 23 at 9 AM (ET). One hour before the meeting you will receive meeting documents and Google Folder access.
Contact Anna-Liza Badaloo for questions: anna-liza@sustainabilitynetwork.ca
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Anna-Liza Badaloo (she/her) of Anemochory Consulting is a facilitator, un-learner, and inclusive communicator. Viewing JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) through the lens of empathy, her decolonized, intersectional approach helps organizations build capacity by implementing communities of practice, trainings, and empathy-driven frameworks designed to foster organizational justice. By centering equity-deserving communities, she helps organizations understand how colonial structures impact organizational health.
Session 1: Settler Colonialism 101
Introduce ENGO representatives to the fact that colonization is a structure and not an event. Identifies key ways that colonialism moves through individuals and organizations.
Session 2: Positionality
ENGO representatives learn how to articulate their social location within a settler colonial state, and in relation to potential Indigenous partners.
Session 3: Inherent Indigenous Governance 101
Introduce the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues. Examples provided.
Session 4: Building Better Relations
ENGO representatives will road test ways they can implement previous workshop key points to re-imagine partnerships with Indigenous nations.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Diagnosing Settler Colonialism in the Enviro Sector
Participants will be asked to share ways in which they have diagnosed and traced power in social justice movements and/or in the ENGO sector. This workshop will make space for discomfort as part of promoting decolonization.
Session 2: Inherent Indigenous Governance
A mix of advanced and introductory theory, this workshop delves into legal and political pluralism, naming the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues.
Session 3: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
ENGO participants are introduced to theories and examples describing the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the “Shadow State.” Purpose is to show how settler colonialism structures civil society.
Session 4: Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships
This workshop delves deep into how ENGOs can partner with Indigenous nations beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex while promoting deference to inherent Indigenous political leaders.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.
Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector
Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector
Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector
Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector
Cost: Free
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