Devex: NGO boards don't represent who they serve. That must change

From the op-ed:

Over the last few years, the Black Lives Matter Movement and #AIDToo scandals have ushered in a period of self-reflection in the humanitarian sector and elevated calls to “decolonize” its systems. To keep up the momentum and address systemic issues, humanitarian nonprofit organizations should focus on governance: specifically, their governing boards.

Relatively small governing boards steer the world’s largest humanitarian organizations and control many of its resources. Yet, these boards are composed mostly of members from the “headquarter countries” to which they are legally accountable.

In a recent analysis we conducted for the Center for Global Development, we found that only 2% of governing board members across 10 of the largest international humanitarian aid organizations had personally experienced a humanitarian crisis or spent time as refugees.