From Darkness to Blue Skies: A Coalition Listening Exercise
Over the course of 2022, one hundred leaders of grassroots networks in 22 countries*—men, women, and youth among Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples—were interviewed about their hopes, dreams, and fears for the future.
The interviews, commissioned by the Rights and Resources Initiative and conducted anonymously, used a “blue-skies thinking” approach, in which we created a freeform space for brainstorming and new ideas. We encouraged participants to be open-minded and to think beyond day-to-day concerns. As appropriate, we spoke in Bahasa, English, French, Nepali, Portuguese, and Spanish, sometimes with interpretation in Indigenous languages. We sought clarity on what these leaders want the world to be like in 2030 and beyond, how such a world could be brought into being, and their worries about the journey to get there.
Read what they told us in this Narrative Report, From Darkness to Blue Skies.
*Countries in Latin America where leaders were interviewed: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru; in Africa: Cameroon, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, and Madagascar; and in Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand.
Additional Reading:
For detailed regional interviews, write to Madiha Waris Qureshi.