Paper short abstract:

In 2020, Christian Aid is closing its Philippines programme. This paper reflects on Christian Aid Philippines’s ’humble’ yet strategic leadership style: enabling, convening and brokering; investing in organisational capacity; and contesting and developing concepts to make them useful in the Philippines context. Through drawing on reflections and inputs from a range of stakeholders (Christian Aid partners, academics, government, business and international actors) it explores what is needed, organisationally and individually to “lead from behind”.

Paper long abstract:

In 2020, as part of an organisational restructure, Christian Aid is closing its office and programme in the Philippines. As part of the closure process I interviewed and held focus group discussions with diverse stakeholders (including civil society partners, academics, businesses, government and international agencies), seeking to understand what Christian Aid Philippines has contributed through 20 years of different initiatives.

Time after time, those I spoke to identified that the way Christian Aid Philippines worked had been crucial to its contribution:

“It is the humble way you work, not seeking profile or visibility, but you keep issues on the agenda, get things moving, work in partnership and play a practical role when needed.”

“Christian Aid are quietly in the background: a convenor, influencing us, taking on risk; respecting, fostering and supporting us, not undermining, competing with or absorbing us, but building capacities for the future.”

(All quotes from interviews with external stakeholders, January 2020)

These discussions described a specific type of leadership: one which has enabled Christian Aid Philippines to support the ongoing agendas and plans of civil society partners, rather than sub-contracting them; and one which has invested in institutional capacity, bringing partners together with unlikely collaborators – to meet challenges with a ‘whole of society approach’. This has meant acknowledging that while CSOs can be part of the solution to intractable development challenges, they cannot be the whole solution, and that the role of government and business is also crucial.

Part of Christian Aid’s leadership role has been convening and brokering, creating space and opportunities for collaboration. But equally important has been thought leadership: a focus on ideas and analysis, and on contesting and developing concepts, taking sector-wide trends and making them meaningful and useful for national practice. Examples of this include the way the Philippines humanitarian sector has responded to and given meaning to the concept of localisation, or the way that Christian Aid worked with faith actors to address concerns raised under the banner of safeguarding. Reflection on the relationships between an INGO and national CSOs also shine a light on the nature of equality and justice within the sector.

This paper explores what is needed at organisational level to enable such leadership, and how this has affected staff recruitment, internal organisational culture and practice, and the formation of relationships with others. It argues that this type of leadership requires strong contextual political analysis and clarity of purpose about what needs to be addressed; a positive vision of change; and an ability to adapt, respond to opportunities, change course, and move on when something isn’t working. But none of these requirements would have been met without individual political acumen or the ability to form strong trust relationships. These were the necessary prerequisites for ‘leading from behind’, at times with unlikely bed-fellows.