Power awareness tool

The Partos Shift-The-Power-Lab presents the Power Awareness Tool.

In the last 8 months, a group of front running organisations has been looking at the complexity of power in partnership relations and the opportunities and blockages to shift the power. The decision to develop this tool is based on the assumption that if partners have a better understanding of the way power works in the partnership, they will be in a better position to work towards shifting power in accordance with their shared principles. The document presents the tool that has been designed to make power imbalances more visible, enabling partners to analyse and reflect on power relations.

There is widespread consensus that in partnerships for development, donors, and international NGOs have too much power, and local NGOs in the Global South too little. Despite this consensus, the power imbalances persist. Apparently, it is hard to put the principles into practice. Those with the most power, usually the donors, and to a lesser extent the INGOs, are not always the most knowledgeable about the local situation or about the change needed and how. While there is broad consensus on this, power imbalances persist. We believe this is partly because power is in many ways elusive. Therefore, the Lab decided to develop a tool to make power more visible, enabling partners to analyse and reflect on their power relations.

Click the link below for more information or download the power awareness tool now.