NAIROBI - A few months back, five migrant worker leaders from four countries met in Nairobi, Kenya, with staff from Humanity United, a U.S.-based organization supported by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam. The leaders had developed a grantmaking strategy to allocate funds to improve the lives of migrant workers in Gulf countries.
It was a bit of an experiment, writes Devex Senior Reporter Sara Jerving, and was part of Humanity United's shift toward participatory grantmaking, which gives decision-making power to those directly affected, rather than just consulting them.
The initiative is one of two programs within the organization taking this approach — the other is focused on racial justice and equity in three U.S. cities – and the idea is to create a template for this type of work, and if successful, to increase the amount of grant funding dispersed this way.
But there also can be some resistance, writes Sara.
“Philanthropy holds a lot of money and with that money comes a lot of power,” says Vijay Simhan, director of forced labor and human trafficking at Humanity United. “This is essentially a process where we are ceding that and that’s hard for people to do.”
Migrant workers, mainly from Asia and Africa, move to the Gulf for jobs but often face exploitation, such as withheld wages and recruitment debts. One participant in the grantmaking process, a migrant worker, described earning $185 a month and repaying $2,600 in recruitment fees, despite holding a university degree.
The steering committee, consisting of leaders from Nepal, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines, worked for over a year to develop their strategy. They allocated $600,000 to 19 organizations in April, with Humanity United planning to potentially increase the amount of grants allocated in this way to $2 million in the future. These funds will be used to promote labor rights, hold recruiters accountable, and empower workers to advocate for themselves.
But the jury is still out on how effective participatory grantmaking is compared to traditional methods, with experts saying there’s a need for more research.
