21. Root. Rise. Pollinate!

Embodying change: Transforming power, culture and well-being in aid organisations

Shawna, Kristen and Rufaro tell the story of Root. Rise. Pollinate! and share learning from their experiment to shift culture through connecting inner and outer transformation.

Shawna Wakefield, Kristen Zimmerman and Rufaro Gwarada tell the story of Root. Rise. Pollinate! - informed by their previous experiences in aid and development. They share learning from their ongoing experiment to shift culture through connecting inner and outer transformation. They discuss practicing new ways of being and doing the work, counter-balancing harmful systems, accountability, responsibility and relationship, decision-making, inter-generational dialogue and much, much more.

Rufaro Gwarada is committed to gender justice, migrant rights, African-led solutions for Africans, and utilizing art and cultural expression as conduits for healing, liberation, and joy. Rufaro practices Zen Buddhism and grounds all she does in unhu/ubuntu – the understanding and way of life in which collective and individual well-being and thriving are one and the same. She co-founded ThriveAfrica.us and Wakanda Dream Lab and is a core-team member of Root. Rise. Pollinate!. Rufaro writes fiction investigating gender, power, and familial dynamics inspired by her homeland, Zimbabwe, is a Move to End Violence Movement Maker, and a Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Citizenship Fellow.

Shawna Wakefield is a facilitator, consultant and women's rights advocate with 25 years of experience advancing gender, racial and economic justice internationally and in the U.S. She accompanies leaders and their social justice and movement building organizations in feminist leadership and building organisational cultures that embody care, justice, equity and inclusion. She is a practitioner of Buddhism, trauma-informed yoga and somatics, with training in respectful confrontation. She is a co-founder Root.Rise.Pollinate!, Associate with Gender at Work, and was formerly Senior Gender Justice Lead at Oxfam International. Shawna is committed to the healing, well-being and freedom of gender justice, Black, Indigenous and POC activists around the world.

Kristen Zimmerman is committed to a world rooted in our fundamental interdependence and collective thriving. She is an artist-storyteller, coach, strategist, and facilitator with 30 years’ experience integrating embodied and creative practice into movement building, community and social transformation work. She is the co-founder of Root. Rise. Pollinate! Movement Strategy Center, Youth In Focus, and Community LORE and she helped to design and launch projects including the Transitions Ini tiative, Move to End Violence, and Decolonize Race. She is a practitioner of Zen Buddhism and is currently working on a graphic novel that explores themes of home, belonging and cultivating family.

To learn more, check out:

• Their website: https://www.rootrisepollinate.us/
• Their blogs: https://medium.com/@rootrisepollinate
• Reimagining Resilience: supporting feminist women to lead development with transformative practice ://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13552074.2020.1717198?journalCode=cgde20
• Email them at [e-mail]

***We would like to give a special thanks to the Initiative’s supporters: the CHS Alliance members, the Government of Luxembourg, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (DFCO) and the Netherlands. And thanks to Ziada Abeid for editing the show.***