For years, foreign aid donors and the organizations that receive their money existed in a state of uncomfortable suspension — generally aware of the problematic power dynamics at the heart of their work, but wary of inviting full scrutiny lest they call the whole fragile enterprise into question.
The global reckoning with systemic racism that followed George Floyd’s murder by police in Minnesota in 2020 changed that. Suddenly, it became riskier to ignore the lingering tendrils of white supremacy and colonialism than to expose them to the light.
In the global development sector, languishing calls to shift more funding and decision making to local communities — translated into aid-speak as “localization” — took on new urgency and entered the mainstream. So did efforts to address racial discrimination and increase diversity inside development organizations.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
