"…for us it’s about creating a model that can be used across the sector in general… for us, we will only follow the need, we won’t follow the money…” – Sarah Brook
In this episode we speak with Sarah Brook, Founder and CEO of The Sparkle Foundation.
We speak about Sarah’s personal journey and what has led her to found and run a development charity. We speak about some of the challenges that The Sparkle Foundation has faced, especially throughout the Covid pandemic, how they have overcome them and how they engage support.
1. What can we take from our lived experiences to drive progressive change?
Many of us won’t have experienced the traumas that Sarah did, even fewer of us will have used this to launch a career to support others. But one thing perhaps we can all take from Sarah’s story is that the trials and tribulations that we face might also open our eyes to new ways of making a positive difference in the world and helping to prevent others having to face the same trials and tribulations.
2. Avoiding the White Saviour
When it comes to international development work how do we ensure that our efforts are really helping. Working with the communities that you are seeking to support, listening first and speaking later, understanding the lay of the land, the challenges, and standing firm with the communities you are working to support are crucial.
Working to provide a holistic approach either in your projects or working with others to provide a consortium approach, to help tackle the often multiple challenges that people are facing are two strategies to consider.
3. The wellbeing that comes from helping others
As Sarah spoke about, giving volunteers a chance to be useful and helpful during the pandemic helped both the volunteers and the people that The Sparkle Foundation are seeking to support. In the times that we are currently in, charities that are able to provide this feeling to volunteers could be doing more good, providing they harness this to meet their original goals, and potentially they could open themselves up for greater future funding from those volunteers and their networks.
4. The effect of the climate crisis on development
The communities that Sarah and her team are working to support are seeing the impacts of the climate crisis. Changes are being made on a governmental level but like so many countries, developing and developed, things are not moving quickly enough. We have spoken before on the podcast about the place of charities in helping to lead the way in being an example and when possible encouraging policy makers to quicken the pace of environmental policies. If your charity has not yet seen an impact on your beneficiaries from the climate crisis it’s time to have another look.
Find out more by visiting SparkleFoundation.org
This episode of Charity Chat has been brought to you by our platinum sponsor Work for Good. Work for Good believes everyone should be able to turn the work they do into good. Through their fundraising platform, they offer charities a way to engage and work with small businesses, including founders, owners and sole traders who want to make an impact for charities through their sales. To find out more, please visit workforgood.co.uk.
We hope you enjoy this week’s episode.
Related episodes that you may be interested in:
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E199 - Compassion in action with Laura Hussey and Angus Clark -
E149 - Supporting Humanity with Idris Patels -