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I’m taking an online course detailing the First Nations principles of OCAP® (Ownership, Control, Access and Possession). There are 7 modules, each one is about 40 minutes

We kick things off with a quote from the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Vol 3, p. 498

In the past, Aboriginal people have not been consulted about what information should be collected, who should gather that information, who should maintain it, and who should have access to it …

The information gathered may or may not have been relevant to the questions, priorities and concerns of Aboriginal peoples.

“OCAP® reflects First Nations commitments to use and share information in a way that brings benefits to the community while minimizing harm.”

The Havasupai

This story begins in the 1990s when the Havauspai tribe living deep in the Grand Canyon, were suffering from cases of diabetes and wanted to know why. They sought out research help from Arizona State University. The tribe agreed to provide blood samples to the university. However the blood samples extracted from the members of the Havauspai were later used for experiments far beyond the initial agreement. Here is how National Public Radio (NPR) describes the situation.

“The tribe was suffering from high rates of diabetes and they wanted to know why, so they sought the help of researchers from Arizona State University. The tribe agreed to provide blood samples so the University could test their DNA but what they didn’t know was how extensively their DNA would be used. Researchers looked into mental illness, inbreeding, even migratory patterns that contradicted Havasupai traditional belief.”

Portion of NPR interview with Carletta Tilousi, a member of the Havasupai Tribe

Part of it is it was a part of my body that was taken from me, a part of my blood and a part of our bodies as Native-Americans are very sacred and special to us and we should respect it. And once they obtained that blood sample, my understanding was they didn’t use it for the purpose of diabetes, they used it for other studies.

And that angered me because I was not properly informed nor did I sign any consent form or fully explained to what my blood was being used for. And it was benefiting different people in the university levels as professors have been obtaining their doctor’s degrees and undergraduate students that were graduating with master’s degrees while our people down here, first of all, were not informed of all of those studies but was also lied to from the beginning and I don’t like being lied to. And it wasn’t just myself that did this, it was a lot of people involved that helped with this legal case.

More information in this NPR article

OCAP® is a registered trademark of The First Nations Information Governance Centre, used under license/or used with permission.

I worked with Sam when he was co-leading the Out of the Box social enterprise. This picture captures the true humanity of Sam, he had a huge heart and was always gracious to those around him. More here

For me, the task is not to find a single or synthetic framework, but to find a way of thinking in alliance.

Judith Butler

Social Impact Advisors podcast interview Melissa Sariffodeen, CEO of Canada Learning Code

Full interview here

Melissa makes some crucial points underscoring the purpose and function of a strong Theory of Change. Below is a summary of her conversation.

Theory of Change is theory

A theory of change (TOC) is many things, firstly its a theoretical account that says, “if you do these things this will be outcome” but you get validation through a) research, if you’re lucky you can cite research that you can simplify in an IF-Then statement: If this happens then that will happen. You also have to remember that the TOC document is a living document, the best way to work with a TOC is to keep it around, don’t shelve it, continually return to it and refine it through the ongoing research, AND the practicum that results from doing it in real time. To this end the Logic Model is linear, whereas the TOC that and more.

Things will change, learn how to embed theory of change in culture of the organization.  Assumptions can change over time. When written a certain hypothesis may not have been researched, so with evolution of the program(s) it may prove/disprove of the assumptions of the TOC

I just connected with a group of academics out of Quebec, the Canadian Philanthropy Partnership Research Network who want to push the envelope on philanthropy and its work on the SDGs. What better than to interview Andrew Chunilall, CEO of Community Foundations Canada.

Full interview here:

Here is a summary of some key points Andrew makes:

The United Nation Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance of the need to collaborate on a global level. We need to think solutions that work globally, and yet remember that each solution is embedded in a local cultural context, one size does not fit all.

Canada has to get off the resources train. We can no longer depend for our wealth on resource extraction. He states, ” For Canada to prosper, the wealth being generated cannot come solely from our resource industry, which is now facing competition from foreign elements. We must instead engage in economic innovation when striving for self-sustainability and stop depending on Canada being a safe harbour for foreign wealth.”

Continue reading “Community Foundations and SDGs”