Acknowledging the elephant in the room: Addressing colonial mindsets in Global Public Health

Decolonisation is  a loaded word and a challenging topic to address, particularly in the aid sector.  Lately, we’ve been thinking about it a lot as we reflect on equity and sustainability in public health. The more we discuss it, the more layers we uncover. Like the onion rotting at the back of your fridge, the public health system is wrapped in layers upon layers of history, outdated power dynamics, and unconscious biases that need to be peeled back to get to the core of what our sector is truly meant to achieve. 

But how does one even begin to address such a divisive and complex issue?

For starters, we need to get a lot more comfortable talking about it. Because let’s face it, nobody wants to bring that elephant to the development party. 

So, in August of last year, we set out to create a tool that would give people an entry point into discussions about decolonisation.

The Building Blocks of Change

When we think about our tendencies to avoid excessive sun exposure, question holistic or traditional medicine, or even swoon over Western accents, we don’t stop to think, let alone question, where these preferences may have come from. Many of our practices and beliefs have been shaped by colonialism and White Supremacy.

If you work in the development space, you’re probably familiar with terms like “colonialism” and “biases,” but you’ve also probably never been asked to define them. We certainly hadn’t. So we started having the conversation amongst our team, asking each other, how might we define terms like “decolonisation” and a “colonial mindset?” What do these terms encompass? And, most importantly, how might we identify colonial mindsets within ourselves and our organisations?

To answer these questions, we began by diving deep into the available research, learning everything we could about the sneaky biases that permeate our brains and our systems. The research was vast and far reaching, a treasure trove of data, from books to podcasts and everything in between (shout out to The New Humanitarian for this repository on all things decolonisation and aid!).

Eventually, we landed on these constructs to help us get more specific: mindsets are how we make sense of the world and define our role within it. Mindsets influence how we think, feel and behave in any given situation. A colonial mindset is the internalised attitude of ethnic or cultural inferiority felt by people as a result of colonisation. In a nutshell, it is the belief that the cultural values of the coloniser are inherently superior to those of the colonised. 

Across our work, we’re increasingly invested in understanding the power structures and systems that perpetuate outdated beliefs and biases. We wanted to find a way to systematically identify those beliefs and biases, particularly the sneaky ones we’re often unaware of. 

Through our collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where we turned an investment in vaccination into an investment in local health systems, we uncovered so many nuggets on how the current funding systems uphold power imbalances in the development sector.

We wondered, how many people are reflecting on the system we all work within? Do we just take it for granted that the status quo is here to stay? We decided to create a tool that might promote collective self-reflection and change.  
Our Decolonisation Quizzes focus on colonial mindsets that we hold as individuals and participants in systems that might be directly or indirectly contributing to harmful norms and increasing inequity. They’re meant to help us explore levers of change within ourselves, the humanitarian workforce, and our organisations.

A Blueprint for Identifying Biases

We began by selecting four areas to anchor our questions in. These are areas where unconscious feelings and judgments can reveal themselves in how we view people and places we engage with. Through psychometric scales, we can reveal the colonial mindsets that penetrate the development sector – from racial bias to white saviour complex to accent bias.

Next, we built the questions. Making them short and clear, without losing what we wanted to measure, was tricky. We wrestled with tricky terms like “developing countries”, “community”  and “local actors.” Questions like these gave birth to yet another tool within our tool – a handy ‘definitions’ tab to keep you on track as you navigate the quiz. 

Tweaks and Tunes

Our first iterations of the quizzes were far from what they look like today. We tested early drafts with partners and curious colleagues who provided critical feedback and challenged our assumptions.

We understood that terms like “underprivileged” or “colonial” were offensive or alienating to some. “By working on de-colonialism, we actually promote colonialism further,” highlighted one tester.

Other colleagues were excited and positive.  One person described the quizzes as “music to my ears.” Another felt that “decolonisation” was the perfect word. “We need to be more aware of the impact of colonialism historically and the legacy that continues today even amongst the most liberal people in the development world.” 

To further strengthen the quizzes, we partnered with Adeso, a pioneer in the decolonisation space. Adeso, alongside other partners in the sector, have designed incredible tools, workbooks and frameworks to help people and organisations work through these conversations. 

Our friends at Adeso offered important feedback and co-created the organisational quiz with us. (Today, Adeso uses the quizzes in their internal trainings and client assessments).

Mapping Mindsets

Finally, our questions were ready for the big screen. We teamed up with talented web designer George Saggers and in five short days, our quiz went from basic to beautiful.

At the end of the quiz, users are presented with a graph that shows where they stand on the decolonisation spectrum compared to others who’ve taken it. The more people that take it, the more accurate the results are. There’s also an explanation of each score, and actionable suggestions to move you higher on the decolonisation spectrum. People have the option to share their results – a scary prospect, we know – but one we hope people take to break the ice and start the discussion in their circles.

It’s About Conversation, not Judgement

There’s no right or wrong answers. The quizzes aren’t meant to point fingers or hand out gold stars. No organisation or individual has their hands squeaky clean in this space.  The quizzes are an attempt to cultivate honest reflection and accountability. They’re designed to spark conversations, make us think critically about the role we play as individuals and as organisations. Most importantly, they’re designed to help spark new possibilities and a new era for our sector.  If we’re doing our job right, it should make you a bit uncomfortable. That’s a good thing. Real growth happens when we get a little uncomfortable.

Are you ready to shine a light on your own blindspots? Take the quizzes here.

Our quizzes are far from perfect, but we’d love to get them as close as possible. Have you taken it? If so, we’d love to hear from you! What did you like or hate? What intrigued you and what frustrated you? We love gold stars and challenges equally! Drop us a line at hello@gocommonthread.com or on LinkedIn or Twitter.