ERNOP Online Series 2025-2026
Decolonising Philanthropy: Shifting the Power or Strengthening the Powers that Be?
November 12, 2025, 10-11 (CET)
Speaker: Sara Kinsbergen (Radboud University Nijmegen)
About this seminar:
The call to “shift the power” and “decolonise philanthropy” has become a central (and sometimes contested) theme in the philanthropic and development sectors. Funders and organisations are urged to re-balance unequal relationships and ensure that local actors in the Global South have genuine ownership. Yet progress remains uneven, and critics warn that these concepts risk becoming buzzwords mastered by those already in power, or are even removed from the agenda.
In this ERNOP Science and Society webinar, Sara Kinsbergen (Radboud University Nijmegen) presents insights drawing on recent research she and her colleagues conducted on citizen-led development initiatives in the Netherlands and their partnerships with organisations in Ghana, Kenya, and Burkina Faso. The study shows that inequality cannot be explained by financial resources alone. Instead, perceptions interact with funding practices to shape the reality of partnerships. Northern organisations often frame their counterparts through three recurring narratives: negative, internally inconsistent, or reflective. These narratives strongly influence whether partnerships become repressive, confusing, or respectful.
The webinar will discuss what these findings mean for philanthropy. How can organisations and funders avoid reinforcing hierarchies while genuinely engaging with the grantees on an individual and organisational level? What kinds of conversations and practices can foster more authentic, equitable partnerships? And how can these practices become embedded within philanthropy?
In the second part of the session, Urska Kovse (Director for Trusts and Foundations at the Development and Alumni Relations Office, University of Cambridge) will moderate an open and interactive discussion, giving participants the opportunity to ask questions and share reflections.
Register for the webinar here.
About Sara Kinsbergen
Sara Kinsbergen is Professor by special appointment of the Citizens’ Role in Sustainable Development and Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen. She also chairs the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies. Her research focuses on citizen-led and small-scale development organisations, examining their legitimacy, sustainability, and the dynamics of power in North–South partnerships. She has published widely on philanthropy and development cooperation and frequently advises policymakers and practitioners. Her current work explores how resources and racialised perceptions shape international partnerships.
About the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen
The Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies centres its research and education on the interaction between cultural diversity and inequality. Within the field of philanthropy, the department focuses on citizen-led development organisations, exploring their roles, identities, and responses to shifting power relations, decolonisation, and evolving forms of citizen engagement in development cooperation.
About Urska Kovse
Urska Kovse is Associate Director for Trusts and Foundations, at the Development and Alumni Relations Office at the University of Cambridge where she leads on development of long-term partnerships with international philanthropic organisations that support the University’s strategic initiatives. Urska is a well-established practitioner, with over ten years of fundraising experience, working on behalf of organizations in higher education, arts and culture, and international development in the UK, the Netherlands, Ghana and in Slovenia. She holds MSc in Welfare Policies and Management from Lund University and has recently obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Frontiers in Philanthropy from the University of Geneva.
About the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university founded in 1209. The mission of the University is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.