Interview with Emma Crewe, ChildHope
Providing long-term support to local and national NGOs and networks in Africa, Asia and Latin America to deliver projects that protect children from violence is central to the success of ChildHope.
What inspired you to work in the sector?
In 1987, I was in Sri Lanka living with a family of potters researching how they were affected by an employment generation scheme. The impact was clear: some families in the community were getting rich while many others remained poor. However, the products they sold were great so those buying them benefited.
I realised that development is not either success or failure; it is both. But I also wanted to ask different questions. I was then offered a job by the NGO who commissioned the research, which offered me an opportunity to research the developers (including myself), so you could say I fell into doing development by accident.
Then, I stayed in development because I became angry: it is wrong that 200 million children are involved in child labour, that women are often denied property and that people die from preventative diseases, the list goes on. It is good to maintain some anger because it can make you determined to do something about it. I am inspired to continue because I believe that inequality doesn't have to be tolerated.
Why did you want to work for a charity that works with children in particular?
Children's potential is inspiring and this feeling was accentuated by having children myself. I also wanted to work for a smaller organisation with aims that I agreed with. ChildHope works for social justice for children and young people. We support local and national organisations and networks in Africa, Asia and Latin America to challenge violence against children. We do this by offering high quality services, learning from others, enabling exchanges between the organisations that we work with, and influencing our own donors. That was a purpose that I found exciting.
Describe your role at ChildHope.
Internally, I co-ordinate a team of 10 people, report to our Board of Trustees and externally I fundraise and try to influence debates around learning and partnership.
What are you working on at the moment?
Broadly, fighting for the interests of NGOs, networks and social movements in the global South that are often bypassed by international NGOs (INGOs). I am also involved in debates concerning partnership, encouraging INGOs to think about how they are supporting local and national NGOs rather than taking control. There are lots of INGOs working in local communities without thinking about what is an appropriate role for them. There is a sense of arrogance, especially when they say that they are ‘building capacity'.
Following in the footsteps of one of our partner organisations in Brazil - Promundo - I am keen to support national NGOs who encourage women's rights activists to combine with those working on children's rights. And today I am trying to get the media interested in different stories about child abuse - arguing that we can learn from Africa, Asia and South America about the importance of prevention, children's empowerment, and systematic change towards more integrated services when protecting children.
What impact do you hope this work will have?
We hope ChildHope revives respect for national NGOs and social movements and demonstrates examples of how to work in solidarity with them. On the second issue, instead of women's and children's rights activists assuming that co-operation would dilute their work, we hope they find synergies to work together to achieve more.
But it is the national NGOs that we work with who attain most profound impact. They are the ones who get children out of hazardous labour and into school, reconcile them with their families, empower children and young people, and persuade communities to protect them more effectively.
Are there specific skills you need to do your job well?
Communication is so important and this includes really listening properly to people and articulating ideas to people in ways that make sense and inspire. It is necessary to be decisive while accepting that I, and others, will make mistakes, which is fine as long as we learn from them. It is also important to have high expectations but be ready to give support when required.
What is the most rewarding, and challenging, part of your job?
Working towards social justice on behalf of children is both rewarding and challenging. Although I don't work with children directly ChildHope supports those who nurture their talent, resilience and generosity. Often, you hear a catalogue of tragedy and abuse that children have faced - too often at the hands of adults including people they know - but then many children choose to dedicate their lives to helping other children as social workers, doing outreach, as lawyers and so on. That is humbling.
In your opinion, what is ChildHope's most significant achievement?
The choices my colleagues make about which local or national organisations to work with and then jointly developing mutually valuable relationships. ChildHope Programme Managers are good at choosing the ones with extraordinary staff and impressive leaders. Take Anannia Admassu Sahle and Alemu Hailu who run Children Aid Ethiopia. They have commitment, drive and thoughtfulness and I believe that they will change the prospects of girls in sexual exploitation for years to come.
What lessons have you learnt from your career so far?
That civil society in the global South should not be bypassed or ordered around by INGOs; learning through honest reflection, good relationships and appropriate communication is more useful than project cycle methodologies; that the choice doesn't have to be between reform and revolution - gradual radical change is often possible; and that it is always worth listening to people, including children.
What is the key challenge for the sector in the coming year?
For us, it is about raising funds in new ways that helps change the rules of engagement between national and global society in favour of social justice in the face of economic meltdown. It is worrying that some might use a shortage of funds as an excuse to bypass social and national organisations, or to be less ambitious for change. We will be forced to be more innovative.
Smaller organisations are clearly more vulnerable in this climate but they also have the ability to be more flexible and challenging than some of their larger counterparts.
Emma Crewe is Executive Director of ChildHope.
