Last week saw the announcement of the closure of Global Integrity, the organization that I led from January 2015 to December 2022. Since then, I’ve been contacted by a number of friends and colleagues, checking in with me to see how I’m doing. The same applies to my predecessor and founder, Nathaniel (see his post, here), and no doubt for Amy, the current Executive Director.
I’ve really appreciated the kind and thoughtful notes I’ve received and have sometimes responded with a potted version of my thoughts and feelings about the sad demise of Global Integrity. Having checked with Amy, and Ania, the Chair of the board, I’ve now decided to share some of my reflections. Perhaps my thoughts provide some additional context, highlighting the contribution that Global Integrity and the amazing people who have been its beating heart for 18 years have made, and the hole that the organization’s closure will leave in the governance and development space.
So, here goes. Not a polished set of reflections that draw a line under things. Just my personal thoughts a week after the announcement of the closure of an organization that I did my best to lead, for eight years.
I feel for the people - friends and former colleagues - who are having to deal with the challenges of closing down an organization, and searching for new roles. I am hugely impressed by the way in which Amy and the rest of the team - including Ania Calderon and other colleagues on the board - have done their very best to address the challenges that they’ve faced, and work with the organization that she inherited.
I have some sadness about the demise of an organization that played a useful role in the evolution of the governance and development agenda. And, I have some regrets about changes that we could have made while I was Executive Director, which would have put the organization in a better position for dealing with a very challenging environment.
We did some good things, maybe some very good things. With the support of a number of donors who valued what we brought to the space, we played nicely, and assertively where necessary, we supported partners well and we engaged constructively with good effect across many of the things we did. The governance and development agenda is more learning-centric, more adaptive, less one-size fits-all, and more systemic than it was 10 years ago, and heading in the direction of being more locally led. This, in my view, is a very good thing.
We played a useful role in that evolution, punching well above our weight and helping to make connections across organizations, issues and geographies to make the governance and development community more than the sum of its parts. Despite the sadness and regrets, there is still a sense of satisfaction with what we were able to do.
However, the funding landscape has changed, for the better, to more direct funding for southern organizations, with the work that we did part of the current that brought about that change. The organization, under my leadership, and despite our best efforts, was not able to adapt to that welcome change quickly enough.
One less basically northern NGO in the global development space is not necessarily a bad thing. Nevertheless, the demise of Global Integrity - an organization that played a catalytic, field-building and connecting role - is, I’d suggest, a regrettable loss to the community of which we were part. I will miss being part of the Global Integrity family, but know that many of the friendships and connections that we made continue to live on, and that the organization’s ripples of influence will continue to be felt.
First published on LinkedIn, 30 October 2023.