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1. Where are the Global COVID-19 Resources for LGBTI Communities?

Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Global Philanthropy Project (GPP)
Abstract:
As COVID-19 spread across the globe in 2020, and its health and broader political and socioeconomic implications became evident, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI)2 communities organized. To meet new challenges, LGBTI organizations across the world stepped up, aware that legal and social discrimination and marginalization would make their communities particularly vulnerable to impacts of the pandemic. LGBTI community response included: delivering essential food to communities of unemployed trans men in rural Guatemala; providing housing for LGBTI communities escaping unsafe living environments in Macedonia; ensuring that lesbian, bisexual, and queer female sex workers have access to essential medicines in Uganda; and other examples in communities around the world. As governments, donors, and service providers have largely failed to acknowledge the specific needs of LGBTI people in responding to COVID-19, LGBTI organizations have filled the void to provide basic protection and support for their communities. Many of these organizations have traditionally focused on advocacy and community organizing to advance and protect the human rights of LGBTI people. Now, in the era of COVID-19, they have become direct service providers, out of necessity—albeit with limited resources and capacity. In April 2020, the Global Philanthropy Project launched a short survey to understand the initial response of global LGBTI philanthropy to the pandemic, soliciting data from all GPP member organizations as well as non-GPP members within the top 20 funders of global LGBTI issues. A key outcome from that report was an identified role for GPP to monitor shifts in resources flowing to LGBTI movements and communities, as well as the broader impact of COVID-19 on international development and humanitarian assistance funding.
Topic:
Health, Discrimination, LGBT+, Advocacy, Community, and Marginalization
Political Geography:
Global Focus and Global South

2. How is Global LGBTI Philanthropy Responding to COVID-19?

Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Philanthropy Project (GPP)
Abstract:
In April 2020, GPP conducted a survey in order to understand emerging practices and principles for COVID-19 response among funders supporting global LGBTI issues, share common learnings and opportunities for collaboration, and inform how GPP can support the community of global LGBTI funders over the course of the pandemic and beyond. The survey focused on GPP member funds as well as non-GPP members in the top 20 funders of global LGBTI issues (based on the 2017-2018 Global Resources Report). The brief contains findings on: Common principles and innovative initiatives global LGBTI funders have commenced since the pandemic began; Key issues that LGBTI funders are hearing from grantee partners; Actions global LGBTI funders have taken to response to these issues; Initial planning or forecasting on implications for global LGBTI funders, including new resources; Recommendations for global LGBTI philanthropic community collaboration in response to COVID-19 impacts on LGBTI communities across the world. In response to the key recommendations from this survey, GPP will monitor shifts in resource flows to LGBTI movements and communities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We plan to undertake a follow up survey of these leading global LGBTI funders in July 2020 and will also publish those results here.
Topic:
Health, LGBT+, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Community, COVID-19, and Philanthropy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Will International Institutions Fail Again? International power shifts and the future of global cooperation

Author:
Matthew D. Stephen
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
International institutions thrive when they are utilized, their rules are respected, and they are important in shaping international outcomes. They fail when they fall into disuse, their rules are violated, or they otherwise become peripheral to the events of world politics. In order to function effectively, international institutions require a minimum level of agreement amongst their most powerful members. In many institutions today, the level of agreement is shrinking. While geopolitical tensions are real, the biggest risk to international institutions comes from the unravelling of domestic and transnational social coalitions in favour of economic openness and ideals of internationalism. To rescue international institutions, it will be necessary to take action at the national level. This means using the policy tools available to national governments to create economic security, reduce inequality, and foster inclusive community identities. This may come at the expense of deeper international integration, but it will be better for international cooperation in the long run.
Topic:
Security, Inequality, Institutionalism, Community, and International Institutions
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Dysfunctional Institutions, Social Trust, and Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood

Author:
Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:
Areas of limited statehood where the state is absent or dysfunctional are rarely ungoverned or ungovernable spaces. The provision of rules and regulations as well as of public goods and services – governance – does not necessarily depend on the existence of functioning state institutions. How can this be explained? This article makes two claims. First, we identify functional equivalents to state institutions that fail to govern hierarchically. Second, we focus on informal institutions based on social trust that are endogenous to areas of limited statehood. Personalized social trust among community members enables actors to overcome collective action problems, enhancing the legitimacy of governance actors. The main challenge in areas of limited statehood, which are often characterized by social heterogeneity and deep social and cultural cleavages (particularly in post-conflict societies), is to move from personalized to generalized trust in “imagined communities” despite dysfunctional state institutions. We argue that generalized trust in areas of limited statehood crucially depends on inclusive social identities as an enabling condition for effective and legitimate governance.
Topic:
Governance, Community, Statehood, and Social Identities
Political Geography:
Global Focus