Briefing No. 30
What we’re reading
On the Greenwood Place bedside table
Citizens - Something is happening. A different story is rising and ripening. It is a story of widely distributed power. A story of who we are as humans, what we are capable of, and how we might together reimagine and rebuild our world. Jon Alexander’s Citizens is about rethinking the stories that we listen to and that we live, and about identifying the domains where we have some influence, and working to make things better.
DEMOCRACY INDEX 2021
Democratisation suffered more reversals in 2021, with the percentage of people living in a democracy falling to well below 50% and authoritarian regimes gaining ground. This year’s Democracy Index report, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, finds that democracy experienced its biggest annual decline since 2010, when the global financial crash led to major setbacks. The index score fell for all but one region, with pandemic-related restrictions continuing to constrain individual freedoms.
EDUCATION AFTER DISASTER
Interrupting schooling has deep and long-lasting effects on children suggests a study from Oxford, which is based on research into the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. The findings have significant relevance for other disasters, including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to Laura Savage of the International Education Funders Group for sharing this with us.
LEAVING CARE WELL
A landmark review of the UK’s care system was published last week. We are still digesting the 250 page report here in the office but we thought we’d share with you this two minute animation produced by young care leavers who form part of the ground-breaking National House Project, a member of the Greenwood Place community.
WHAT THE GREEN GROUPS SAID
Lynn has just returned from the Environmental Funders Network retreat with a wealth of information and ideas to share with the rest of the Greenwood Place team. She is currently reading through EFN’s recent report summarising what is happening across the environmental sector, how its leaders believe they can become more effective and what funders can do to facilitate that success.
THE MIDNIGHT SUN
The days are getting longer and lighter by the day here in the UK. As we look forward to Summer, we enjoyed this 360deg time lapse video which follows the never-setting sun in a 24 hour trip around the sky above the Arctic Circle.
UPCOMING EVENTS
We’re beginning to work on the next Greenwood Place learning journey. Block your diaries - end of January 2023.
And do join us for our next roundtable conversation, with Paul Roughan, of the Islands Knowledge Institute and Peter Seligmann of Nia Tero to discuss how we can secure Indigenous guardianship of vital ecosystems.
If you would like to talk to us about ways to provide practical help to families and individuals in Ukraine or those who have recently found themselves becoming refugees , please call us. The situation is complex and still evolving but there are ways to help.
CAN WE HELP YOU?
Greenwood Place provides philanthropy support, advice and execution for a small group of strategic philanthropists. We take an entrepreneurial approach to tackling tough social and environmental problems. We work closely with our clients to find the places where they can make most difference, we support their learning and we partner with them to achieve real, lasting change.
The Greenwood is the place in Shakespeare's plays where characters go to grow, change and learn.