Degan Ali
Degan Ali | |
|---|---|
| Born | Somalia |
| Nationality | Somali American |
| Employer | Adeso |
| Organization | Network for Empowered Aid Response |
| Parent |
|
Degan Ali is the Somali-American[1] humanitarian consultant and the executive director of Adeso.[2]
She is best known for her critique of power dynamics in the humanitarian aid system and promotion of cash assistance.
Early life and education
Born in Somalia to mother Fatima Jibrell and a father who was a Somali military officer and diplomat, her family moved to Washington when Degan Ali was nine years old.[2][3] Her family lived in Chicago where she attended school and university.[3]
Career and advocacy
Ali was employed by the United Nations and deployed to Somalia before she resigned in disillusionment.[2] After initially working as the Vice Director,[4] she became Executive Director of Adeso (African Development Solutions)[5] where she has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts to provide more funding to local humanitarian organizations,[3][6][7] and to use more cash assistance.[8]
After speaking about the lack of localisation at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, Ali became the founder of the Network for Empowered Aid Response.[2][9] She has called for local organizations to take power, rather than wait for it to be given to them.[10][11]
In 2020, she spoke to The New Humanitarian and was critical of the failures to implement the Grand Bargain.[12]
In 2021, at the Global Steering Group Impact Summit she warned of colonial attitudes and how they influence international aid spending.[13]
Ali runs DA Consulting, which created a framework to help international aid agencies to decolonise and switch away from service delivery towards advocacy and solidarity with local aid agencies.[14]
Selected publications
- Degan Ali and Kirsten Gelsdorf, Risk-averse to risk-willing: Learning from the 2011 Somalia cash response, Global Food Security 1.1 (2012): 57-63.[15][16]
- Degan Ali and Kate Churchill-Smith, Seeking Acceptance: The Promise of Cash in High-Risk Areas, Prepared for the Second World Conference on Humanitarian Studies at Tufts University, June 2011[17]
- Degan Ali and Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, Black Lives Matter is also a reckoning for foreign aid and international NGOs, OpenDemocracy, 2020
- Degan Ali, Fanta Toure and Tilleke Kiewied, Cash relief in a contested area Lessons from Somalia 2005, Humanitarian Practice Network[18]
See also
References
- ^ Fiegl, Amanda (2014-11-26). "A Somali Aid Worker Would Rather Give Out Cash Than Free Food". NPR. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ a b c Wall, Imogen (2016-03-21). "'We are demanding change': the Somali woman taking on international NGOs". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ Rooney, F. (2007). Exceptional Women Environmentalists. Canada: Second Story Press.
- ^ "Degan Ali announced as Oceania Connect opening keynote speaker". ACFID. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
- ^ "Does Africa need foreign aid?". The New Times | Rwanda. 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ "10 of the best humanitarians to follow on social media". the Guardian. 2016-04-18. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ "Degan Ali". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
- ^ "NGOs: bridging the North South divide". The New Humanitarian. 2015-06-08. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ Doane, Deborah (10 Dec 2019). "Are INGOs ready to give up power?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
- ^ Houghton, Irũngũ (10 Oct 2016). "Five disempowering traits that international NGOs must drop". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
- ^ "Le mouvement Black Lives Matter contraint les ONG humanitaires à un examen de conscience". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
- ^ "Sir Ronald Cohen: Victory is in sight!". www.pioneerspost.com. 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ Aly, Heba (2022-08-12). "Ten efforts to decolonise aid". The New Humanitarian. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
- ISSN 2211-9124.
- ISSN 1561-8633.
- ^ Nor, Mohamed Ibrahim. "Do the global oil price shocks affect Somalia's unregulated exchange rate volatility?." (2018). APA
- ^ Grosh, Margaret, et al. For protection and promotion: The design and implementation of effective safety nets. World Bank Publications, 2008.