We interrupted Penny Mordaunt to demand aid sector abuses end now | Shaista Aziz

If the sector really wants to put its house in order, it must stop protecting those preying on the world’s most vulnerable peopleEight months on from the Oxfam “sex scandal”, as the media like to refer to it, the Department for International Development (DFID) is holding its international safeguarding summit. As Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, was announcing the creation of a computer database – paid in part by £2m of British aid money – to store the names of sexual predators working in the sector, she was interrupted by my colleague from NGO Safe Space, Alexia Pepper de Caires.Pepper de Caires, a former Save the Children employee and whistleblower, was speaking on behalf of the women who want to make real change within the sector, but feel their voices are being silenced. She quoted Paula Donovan, who had refused to take part in the summit and said “We do not need fancy new systems, we do not need technology, we need systematic change. We need to understand the sexism, the racism and the abuse of power that happens from the very top of the leadership”. Continue reading…
Via: We interrupted Penny Mordaunt to demand aid sector abuses end now | Shaista Aziz