Web-Talk: Do no harm? A feminist and decolonial approach on harmful power relations Dec. 15th, 2022

German Civil Society has long requested a critical reflection of the colonial past and practical consequences for international cooperation. Germany is the second largest donor in development cooperation worldwide and the country has recently adopted a feminist foreign policy and development cooperation.

In 2021 the government has adopted the "LGBTI inclusion strategy for foreign policy and development cooperation." As a consequence of longstanding requests from Civil Society the strategy states that "Local history and the life stories and traditions of LGBTI people, including relevant aspects of missionary and colonial history, are essential considerations."

Do no harm is the guiding principle in humanitarian aid and development cooperation and it is a core element of the LGBTI-inclusion concept. Feminist foreign policy and development cooperation are explicitly meant to include LGBTI people and these policies are described as transformative and intersectional.

But today's global power relations still originate in the history of colonialism and are strikingly asymmetrical. How can the Do no harm-principle be applied to international project work with international project work for LGBTIQ people? How can a decolonial approach work? What can it look like? What works and what doesn't?

Stephanie Leitch, Senior Officer at ILGA World is based in Trinidad and Tobago. In conversation with Clementine E. Burnley, writer and community organiser.

ILGA World – the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association - is a worldwide federation of more than 1,700 organisations from over 160 countries and territories campaigning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex human rights.

An online talk by Hirschfeld-Eddy-Foundation as part of the project : "Do no harm – How to minimize risks in international project work". All articles and documentation in our blog tagged DNH-2022: https://blog.lsvd.de/tag/dnh-2022/

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