Enacting an individual and collective Pledge for Change. Kate Moger and Sidhee Patel interviewed.

In this week’s episode, we talk to Kate Moger and Sidhee Patel from Adeso’s Pledge for Change initiative. The three pledges focus on equitable partnerships, authentic storytelling, and influencing wider change. The Pledge consists of a community of 13 INGOs who commit to working towards the shared objectives.

They talk about the importance of making public commitments to change both individually as leaders and collectively on behalf of organisations. 

We discuss the abundance mindset when it comes to situating new initiatives and projects in the international development space, and the importance of contributing resources and knowledge.

Kate Moger is Global Director of Pledge for Change. Prior to joining Adeso in July 2023, Kate spent over two decades working in humanitarian contexts, most recently as IRC’s Regional Vice President for the Great Lakes and Central Africa, supporting Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania. Previously she was IRC’s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa and Country Director in Mali. Between 2003 and 2013, Kate held a variety of leadership roles with Save the Children in South Sudan, DRC, and Cote d’Ivoire, having begun her humanitarian work in protection services with refugee and asylum-seeking children in the UK. She gained development and peacebuilding experience with Sense International and International Alert, before which she taught English in Japan, and established a start-up travel agency in Russia.

Sidhee Patel works as a Program Officer for the Pledge for Change 2030 Initiative. She previously worked in administrative support, but she is now actively learning and navigating the humanitarian and development program sector. Sidhee has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has recently completed the 1st cohort of the Development Hub's Skill Share Program: Decolonizing Development and Humanitarian Action. She is dedicated to social justice and empowering the Global South community in the development and humanitarian aid ecosystem.

If you’re interested to find out more about Kate’s or Sidhee’s work, take a look here:

• Kate Moger LinkedIn
• Sidhee Patel LinkedIn
• Adeso Africa

Recent work:

• PLEDGE FOR CHANGE 2024 ANNUAL RETREAT REPORT 
• Toward a Decolonised International Cooperation Declaration

Relevant resources:

• Rethinking Humanitarianism Podcast
• #OnWhatMatters l Degan Ali and Martín Abregú
• Edgy Ideas
• Rethinking aid system narratives | The Centre
• Coloniality and the inadequacy of colonisation
• It’s time for funders to step up, stand with, and support those seeding change - Alliance magazine