our global garden of joy Hi 👋 I’m Jasmine, founder of The Bloom. We have a phenomenal selection of social impact resources this week for you to bloom & forward to your friends!
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Welcome bloomers! Here's a summary of the newsletter this week: 🌱Career interview with leader in anti-racism feminist foreign policy 🌱 UNESCO youth photo competition 🌱 Audio storytelling for social change newsletter with love & light, Jasmine Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up to get your own copy of The Bloom to your inbox with top social impact jobs, uplifting stories, and global resources. Partner with us! We're looking forimpact organizations to feature in The Bloom to bring even more connections, resources, and opportunities to our global community.
Where I was raised and what I had to go through really shaped my social justice journey and the radical feminist I am now. Growing up in Southern Germany as a Black woman, although light skinned, but still the only one who was not white with a white single mother in very poor circumstances. I think that really shaped me. I always stood out in a sense that I looked different. I had lesser financial resources. I only had one parent, not both of them. So the area I grew up was very white, very conservative, very rich.
I come from a very poor Black and Afro-Indigenous family on my dad’s side, but those familiar with Black feminism, for example, know or might know that knowledge sharing in the form of telling stories and just passing it on as pure survival knowledge actually is so important among Black women. And I know that even though I mostly grew up in white surroundings, now as an adult and as an adult Black woman, that knowledge and passing it on, talking to other not only Black women, but mostly just marginalized and non white women in Germany is so vital to me.
It wasn’t until later in my teenage years that I really became active and more engaged myself. And when I found my voice and had the strength to actually speak up. That’s when political science felt like the only thing I could do after school. I didn’t really see myself anywhere else. And then, not so much during my bachelor’s, but specifically during my Master’s in Peace Research and International politics. It was a very, or still is, it’s just a very white, very elite, very male field. But then even during my studies, people try to encourage you and are like, oh, speak up and raise issues if you know that.
I think always being the only one in the room representing a certain group, that really shaped me during my studies. I also always had to work to finance my studies, and I did so later on as a political educator. I worked on anti-racism and mostly the prevention of right wing extremism. And yeah, I think that’s also something that really influenced me in the beginning, being super shy and always like, oh, if people just understand, if I just explain more, we would finally meet somewhere in the middle. But now I just know it will not happen. So I do think to a certain extent, experiences of racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression radicalized me and made me more critical in my work. How has your approach to speaking out shifted over time?
In the beginning, it was a lot like first looking for allies and other people that thought the same. So I wouldn't speak out alone, but always with a group. And I think my angle was different. It was more like getting people on board, and now I don't really care about it that much. I always look for allies, but my speaking out is not dependent on it. I just try to be as radical as I can and try to speak out whenever I feel comfortable. I also think it's totally fine to step back and not always speak out because it does cost a lot of energy. So now it's not so much getting everyone on board, but now I think my focus is more on when I speak out, my goal is to protect myself and other people that I think are unjustly marginalized and might not have the chance to speak out and to really point out where injustice is and not so much getting people on board. I mean, if people want to be on board, I'm happy, but it's not my number one goal anymore. If people don't want to be part of my social justice class, then that's fine. So I think that really just becoming more blunt, I think, and not being so nice anymore about it.
If you could walk us all of us reading your interview through one upcoming project or panel at CFFP you’re leading, what would you love to show us and why?
What currently is super exciting and what I like to bring people in on and show is my program on anti-racism and decolonizing feminist foreign policy.
We finally got a grant so now I am in the early stages of conceptualizing and looking, okay, where will this funding go?
How we will spend the money? And I think what's just really exciting at the moment is just seeing, okay, who else is already active in that field? What are other organizations specifically outside Europe doing in this regard? And where can we connect? But also thinking about what does connection look like? Because I think also decolonizing knowledge and knowledge production. So not always setting up the regular Zoom meetings and panel discussions, but really having a look at, okay, how do we share knowledge?
What we often see and specifically in this field of foreign and security policy is that things are branded as not scientific. But that's something I really want to focus on with this project. And then getting more into storytelling and just connecting all of the facts and the research that we have to just real life stories from people. Because I think in the end, what really creates empathy across borders and nations is our stories that people can connect to and that people can find themselves in.
🎁 Read the full career interview with Sheena and more phenomenal social impact leaders when you join our growing membership community!
🎉Workshop on drafting a compelling case narrative: My team and I at the Strategic Center for Advocacy on Human Rights are hosting an online workshop when advocating before the police, elders, policy-makers, or judges. 🎉Newsletter for social impact podcasts: After being laid off from my audio job, I decided to embark on a journey of entrepreneurship to build platform on audio storytelling for social change. The free newsletter spotlights those making social impact podcasts and shares calls-to-action for social change.
🎉Feminist Foreign Policy Course: I'm super excited to share that my first batch of graduates just finished the Feminist Foreign Policy Course and I'm happy to report that they found it insightful and useful :)
Digital Rights and Inclusion Learning Lab: A fellowship to connect under-served young Africans with digital opportunities and ensure the protection of their rights. UNESCO youth photo competition: Photographers from around the world can apply for this opportunity. The contest showcases young people’s inspiring efforts in positively impacting the world. Elevating voices of women farmers: Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens is looking for 30 under 30 passionate African changemakers, who lead projects in their communities that empower women farmers in Africa. As part of the EVWA Changemakers Campaign, we will recognize the efforts of exceptional individuals and initiatives, and promote them on the Ban Ki-moon Centre's platforms. Centre Inclusive Policy Fellowship: Provides financial support, exposure to global discourse in the policy landscape, and mentoring to people with disabilities from low- and middle-income countries who are actively working on issues of inclusive policy or policy research. 💰FUND Feminist leading from the South grant: Are you a feminist or women’s rights organisation working in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine or Yemen, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel Region, French speaking Africa, or in Portuguese or Arabic speaking country? Apply for USD20,000 per year to USD500,000 per year. Women's fund Asia strengthening feminist movements grant: Funding for Women, girls, trans, and intersex rights activists, groups, and networks working at the local, subnational, and national levels in South, East and Southeast Asia. Resourcing resilience grant for Asia and the Pacific: This grant is available to women and non-binary human rights defenders and organisations in Asia and the Pacific who – on their own or in collaboration with others – seek to implement an initiative, including unanticipated opportunity, that would contribute towards resourcing resilience for their activism.
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