A Response to Cuts in Aid
100
FUNDED
SPACES!!
100 FULLY FUNDED SPACES...
This is the greatest letdown – that while facing annihilation, our leaders retreat. Trump, Starmer, Macron, Scholz, De Croo, Schoof, Orpo, Kristersson, von der Leyen have all answered the call of a generation by hanging up the phone. But luckily, those of us cleaning up your mess weren’t waiting for white saviours anyway. If you won’t act, we will.
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We may be small, but change doesn’t take the many. Change is inevitable when non-violent resistance movements activate just 3.5% of the population for their cause. What is our cause? Grassroots, bottom-up, solidarity-infused systemic change of the humanitarian and development systems. A realigned system as decentralized as it is diverse. An aid paradigm that is defined by the DNA of Justice.
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With so many vested interests, aid was never really about charity, but now we are on the verge of it becoming all about Justice (read more here).
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In response to cutting 176,000 aid jobs, we give you 176,000 passionate activists now freed from their institutional shackles to create change in their own communities.
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In response to cancelling 10,000 aid contracts, we give you an explosion of local grassroots movements with nothing to lose in overturning the tables.
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In response to clinging onto aid as charity, we give you the seeds of liberation and regeneration to replace systems of oppression and destruction.​
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THE FUTURE OF AID IS JUSTICE...
Alongside the 2,500 people from over 500 organisations across 100 countries who have already been trained in the Justice Based Approach, we are calling for a revolution. It will not be funded by the Minority World. It will not be claimed by the logos of INGOs. It will not be held back by bureaucracy.
The Justice Based Approach was created for this moment and delivers the skills, tools, networks, and paradigms needed to truly reimagine aid. From project technicians, JBA creates system architects. From NGOs, JBA creates movements. From scarcity, JBA creates abundance. Theory and practice combine in one of the most inspiring, practical journeys ever created for humanitarians, development workers, and social and environmental justice activists.
This moment of uncertainty can be a catalyst for lasting change, but resources are tighter than ever. That’s why we’ve launched 100 fully funded places for our flagship event as well as a free programme of ongoing support for grassroots organisations that qualify.
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Applications are open until 30 June, and we welcome applications from anyone. We'll review and respond to all applications by 31 July.
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If demand exceeds spaces, we’ll prioritise local and national organisations, as well as individuals who have lost jobs due to funding cuts.
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Special consideration is given to those in the Majority World, women, Black and Indigenous people, those from ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+ people, young people, disabled people, refugees, and grassroots activists.
This isn’t only about weathering the storm. JBA offers a practical, radical, and hopeful framework to help us adapt to today's realities while staying rooted in justice, dignity, and system change. It is time to move beyond charity-based models and equip teams with the tools, strategies, and inspiration to work differently. The course covers everything from systems thinking, localisation, reimagining aid, and participatory decision-making to ethical leadership, innovation-based programme design, and justice-centred M&E. It weaves together power and oppression, gender and climate justice, and practical tools for strategic, accountable, and transformative action.
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JOIN US!
Where does the funding come from? We are a self-funded social enterprise, and we heavily subsidize all of our trainings to provide high impact courses at accessible rates. The fees collected also support a financial assistance program that has provided over $250,000 worth of training support since 2017, but now is the first time we have offered fully funded places to so many people at once.
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There are two ways to take part in this year’s JBA Foundation Course starting in September:​
We know one thing: the backslide will backfire. We look to the emergence of a system that is based upon principles of solidarity and collective care. In response to all of the forces trying to reorganize the aid industry along the very same power dynamics that brought us into this mess, we see grassroots movements growing throughout the Majority World with a different organizing logic – that of mutual aid, self-determination, and decolonial localization. We invite you to forward this announcement to your networks, colleagues, friends, and partners and help contribute to the movement to transform our sector and world.
What legacy do we want to leave? This is a watershed moment, when we wake from our slumbering and rise together like a phoenix from the ashes to rebuild a movement that leads the charge against some of the biggest challenges of our time instead of squabbling over the remaining scraps from the master's table.
Let this be the end of aid as we know it, and let it be the beginning of Justice.
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