A Fresh New Feel
The Global Advocate Program is back!
Since the Global Advocate Program began in 2014, 118 Global Advocates have completed the program. They raised over two million USD in direct funding for our partners around the world and contributed significantly to the promotion of community-led development across the sector. Through it all, they’ve allowed and encouraged Mama Hope to grow, adapt, and come out stronger.
Our commitment to transforming aid from top-down to eye-level has meant a commitment to constant learning. We are so grateful that a year-long hiatus gave us room to do just that. We’ve been working hard on dreaming up a program that better mirrors the sector we want to see — one that is accessible, diverse, creative, collaborative, loving, comfortable with discomfort, and most importantly, driven by leaders in the communities it serves.
When the Global Advocate Program was originally piloted, it was responding to a different world. Riding on the swift momentum of Mama Hope’s Stop the Pity campaign, the Global Advocate Program focused on Advocates from fat-economy countries unlocking the potential of communities in lean-economy countries across the world. Our family shared so many celebrations and our community partners grew leaps and bounds.
In 2016, Mama Hope launched the East Africa Global Advocate Program. This was a huge step towards aligning with our goal of promoting grassroots leaders from the communities our partners live and work in. And it was a success too! 93% of East African fellows were employed post-completion, and a few even began their own organizations, which became Mama Hope partners.
On the other side of the world, Global Advocates in the United States continued to successfully raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for our community partners. It was a hustle that they (and we) knew how to do well, with brilliant results, so we kept at it. We invested more time and energy in them, and the great majority of Mama Hope’s funding for our community partners continued to come from Global Advocates. However, our outpouring of energy eventually turned into a reliance — and less energy dedicated to Global Advocates representing the communities our partners work in.
The imbalance became clear. Our focus on what became the “traditional” program in the United States was out of alignment with Mama Hope’s goal to create a world where the power to tackle inequity is in the hands of those affected by it. Transforming the sector requires redirecting power — passing the mic.
It hasn’t been an easy journey to turn that around, but it’s certainly been exciting. MAMA HOPE is both more grounded and more invigorated after quiet time and close work with our community partners to shake things up and bring back the Global Advocate Program in bigger and better ways.
The biggest change to the program? National Advocates (citizens who currently reside in the countries where Mama Hope’s community partners live and work) and International Advocates (who represent countries outside of those that Mama Hope has partners in) will be paired together and work alongside each other through the entirety of the program.
Each Advocate pair will work towards a shared fundraising goal of $25,000 USD. Our East African fellows and friends have shared a resounding desire to increase their fundraising skills, and we’ll respond with refreshed and relevant training, including a focus on learning the trade rather than relying on wealthy personal networks to reach their goal. Our intention is to reverse our dependency on funding from Global Advocates in the United States and other fat-economy countries. Although we aren’t naive to the varying cultures of giving around the globe and the inherent power in money, the change will likely come with continued learning and a road bump or two (or more).
With our partners help, we’re also learning how to expand our notion of capital. We realize that capital comes in many forms — financial, in-kind, time, knowledge, skills, local assets, and more — and we will encourage them all as successful forms of fundraising. We hope that this lifts some of the socioeconomic barriers that applicants may come up against while participating in the program.
Pairing Global Advocates also means equal footing. Time, energy, resources, and support for Global Advocates representing any and all communities will remain unique, but equally distributed and increasingly relevant. It means all voices are fairly represented.
Lastly, pairing Global Advocates allows for more impactful skill-sharing and meaningful intercultural exchange. We’ve updated our virtual curriculum, built out new scopes of work with our partners, set up better communication guidelines, and created innovative avenues for Global Advocates to do just that — advocate for the communities they live and work in.
Shifting mindsets and changing perspectives is essential everywhere — from Kisumu, Kenya to Boston, Massachusetts — and we hope that all Global Advocates have the opportunity to contribute towards this goal. We know that we‘ll stumble a few times, and we won’t rid a system of inequitable power dynamics with just the release of a new vision, but we’re beyond motivated to make the changes we’ve been dreaming of for a new decade of the Global Advocate Program. We are thrilled, our partners are eager, and we’re proud and grateful to share this journey with you.
Interested in applying to the Global Advocate Program? Check out more info on our website, www.mamahope.org/global-advocates.
