Devex Newswire: An NGO melts down amid a raft of accusations

From the outside, Women in Global Health appeared to be thriving. But on the inside, serious trouble was brewing.

Also in today’s edition: USAID releases a digital road map, and we take a look at gender equality in salaries.

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Downward spiral

Recriminations, resignations, terminations, and lots of unanswered questions. The implosion of an organization is never pretty — and Women in Global Health is no exception.

The U.S.-based nonprofit’s future once looked bright. Founded in 2015, it started out with volunteers and now boasts an annual budget of $3.7 million and 58 chapters globally, accounting for about 6,500 members. 

That explosive growth was spearheaded in part by co-founder and then executive director Dr. Roopa Dhatt, who worked in COVID-19 wards by day while building from scratch an organization to challenge “power and privilege in global health.” But was the growth a double-edged sword?

One former board member tells my colleague Sara Jerving that WGH suffered from “deep, deep troubles that had been brewing for some time,” saying the organization had grown too quickly without the proper rules in place.

On top of that, a whistleblower complaint from seven Black women lobbed a raft of allegations at WGH, including bullying, harassment, racial discrimination, toxic work environment, bias, and lack of equal pay.

A subsequent investigation found evidence of a toxic environment and a “white supremacy culture,” which it defined as, among other things, power hoarding and a sink-or-swim mentality. But it discounted other claims such as bullying and harassment.

Still, Dhatt was let go in May. What followed was more upheaval. A man was appointed to lead the board of an organization designed to empower women, sparking outrage. There were tit-for-tat accusations between Dhatt and the board over the investigation. And an entirely new leadership structure emerged from the ashes.

But can WGH rise above the turmoil? That remains an open question.

Exclusive: Probe finds Women in Global Health had ‘toxic’ environment

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The salary glass ceiling  

While WGH may be in trouble, its mission remains urgent: achieving gender equality in health care, where women make up the bulk of the workforce but men occupy most leadership roles.

Traci L. Baird of EngenderHealth and Kent Buse of Global Health 50/50 point out another disturbing trend: “Female CEOs in global health continue to earn substantially less than their male counterparts, with the pay gap widening over time,” they write in a Devex opinion piece.

Among the questions they pose:

• Are female leaders experiencing increased burnout due to having less social support or more out-of-work roles, e.g., caretaking, than male leaders?

• Is this burnout exacerbated by lower take-home pay available to fund logistical or caregiving support?

• Are men more likely to chair the boards of larger organizations and be less likely to “take a chance” on a woman CEO?

“While male-dominated leadership is not unique to global health, for a sector that has been disproportionately staffed by women and one that has touted equity and opportunity, the gap in women’s leadership needs our urgent attention and action,” they write.

Opinion: Gender equality in salaries is another frontier for global health

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Cash with caveats

Money talks, but it’s not the only thing that speaks volumes. That was the main takeaway from our latest Devex Pro event, which looked at how USAID was faring on its lofty localization goals. Last year, the agency channeled 9.6% of eligible funding toward local organizations — a $50 million dip from the year before.

“The numbers are super problematic,” said Gunjan Veda of the Movement for Community-led Development. “Direct funding to local organizations is super important. But at the same time, who is local, who's getting that funding, how that funding is coming is also hugely important.”

Fellow panelist Sally Paxton of Publish What You Fund agreed, arguing that money “can’t just replicate the current model. It has to change the current model and make sure local voices are not just implementing, but setting the objectives and the priorities for what is needed.”

USAID is not blind to the problem and is trying to come up with ways to ensure projects are truly locally led, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes. One positive evolution, according to Moses Isooba of the Uganda National NGO Forum, is overcoming a deeply entrenched trust deficit.

For years, many bilateral agencies haven’t trusted local organizations to take taxpayer money; for just as long, local organizations have assumed USAID grants were too onerous, complicated, and costly to bother with.

“All of a sudden, there’s a change of heart where they are willing to listen, willing to make systems less complicated. That takes time to develop and to build trust,” Isooba said. “Trust is a process, trust takes time to build, and that’s important.”

Watch the event recording: What do we need to actually move the localization needle? (Pro)

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The app gap

In addition to localization, USAID is trying to expand its digital footprint across the entirety of its work. To that end, Power unveiled a road map that will steer the institution's approach to digital technology over the next 10 years.

“It’s clear we stand at the cusp of another technological upheaval that none of us really can predict,” Power said at the policy’s launch event last week. “Since we know that we can't stop the march of technology, maybe it's tempting to sit back and hope for the best — to disappear, in fact, into our technology.” But, needless to say, we can't do that. We need to take action, we need to be intentional.”

Some of that action is already happening, Elissa writes. M-mama, for example, is a mobile application that connects pregnant people with volunteer drivers who can provide a ride to the hospital in an emergency.

But just as some apps are helpful, others can be harmful. Power pointed out that China has provided facial recognition software to at least 80 other nations, “enabling mass surveillance and targeted repression of dissidents and activists.”

At the same time, opportunities abound. Power said that “to take advantage of this moment, we need to be prepared, we need to have the right tools at the ready to jump at the opportunities, and we need to take on the risks.”

Read: USAID unveils a new digital policy to drive the next decade (Pro)

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In other news

The IMF approved a $3.4 billion four-year loan to Ethiopia to support its economic reforms and enable debt restructuring negotiations with creditors. [Bloomberg]

UNICEF has warned that severe rain and flooding have put 6 million South Asian children at risk and is requesting $9.3 million for emergency aid and climate resilience programs. [UN News]

A recent study shows that droughts and wildfires in 2023 reduced the world's forests carbon absorption, leading to record atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and accelerating global warming. [Reuters]

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