Collectively, we can work toward justice and liberation for Palestine and for all our peoples around the world. Below, we share a Resource Toolkit with additional reading materials, places to donate, links to organizations also calling for ceasefire.

In addition to that, here are some additional steps that we as international development professionals can take:

1. Educate yourselves and each other. There are TONS of educational materials on Palestine - starting with but not limited to this toolkit. -  Read, watch and listen - and then share. Host lunch book clubs, teach-ins, movie hours, informal coffee. Whatever you can do to make sure we keep talking about Palestine.

   1. • Organize meetings with your senior management of your organization with specific asks including (but not limited to):

      • Making an organizational public statement

      • Creating a resource group for staff who are impacted

      • Allowing staff to take paid time off to support activities related to demanding a ceasefire now.
        
        

2. Hold each other accountable for language that we use. It's budgeting season and we know that international development organizations are looking ahead to where they might see large contracts next year. Speak up when you hear people speak about the war as an "opportunity" or look forward to the money that we will make from it. Speak up when you hear our organizations use euphemisms to hide the violence that is unfolding in front of us. Speak up as colleagues happily add "danger pay" bonuses for themselves.
   
   

3. Use your expertise. Organize meetings with your congressional representatives as international development/humanitarian professionals with first-hand, on-the-ground knowledge and expertise.  Let them know you know what US foreign policy looks like on the ground. Use your expertise to forward demands for ceasefire and end to cycles of violence.
   
   

4. Show public solidarity - especially for those based in headquarters and capital cities. We have access to decision makers who attend galas and end-of-year events. We get invited to holiday parties, and Christmas tree lightnings, and thank you receptions. Use these privileges to take up space. 

   1. • Wear a kufiya (https://www.kufiya.org/what-does-the-palestinian-keffiyeh-symbolize/). Do this particularly in solidarity with the backlash we have seen - including for international development professionals - for how they are dressed. 

      • Ask questions. Going to an event about resilience? Ask about Palestine. About water? Ask about Palestine. About climate change? Ask about Palestine and how we plan to clean up the environmental disaster from war-making. An event on women’s rights - ask about Palestine. Take up space. Do not let us turn a blind eye.
        
        

5. Share your analysis. Keep reminding everyone - the root cause is colonialism and the occupation. Put it in all reports, proposals, blogs, social media posts - say it out loud.
   
   

6. Talk about this on LinkedIn - and other forms of social media, and amplify the voices and insights of those at the frontlines of the liberation movement. And, de stigmatize talking about Palestine in professional spaces.
   
   

7. Develop proposals with care. When we are writing proposals for response and programming in Palestine (yes, that includes Gaza): 

   1. • Hold organizations accountable if using language that promotes profiteering off the genocide. 

      • Any program designed for Palestine must be designed in a way that acknowledges and has a clear analysis of the root causes of the situation - in this case the occupation. Often times USAID RFPs do not reference the occupation, siege, apartheid, settlements, separation/apartheid wall, etc. Just because they do not, does not mean your proposal cannot. Don’t just fund reconstruction and aid, but also movements for justice and liberation - that address the root cause of the situation.

      • DO NOT do this work without consulting with and transferring money and power to Palestinian groups and organizations and movements that are at the front lines in their communities.
        
        

8. Demand more from DEI efforts. DEI without justice and liberation is just performative. If your organization is doing and paying for DEI work, demand that it includes decolonization and liberation in its frameworks. This starts with calling out global injustices, including raising their voices against the racial prejudices and dehumanization endured by Palestinians. Without this first step of acknowledgment to rectifying historical and current injustices., peace-building and localization initiatives will remain empty.
   
   

9. Denounce ALL forms of hate.  Islamophobia and Antisemitism in the workplace and in your communities/networks. Be clear about what these are. Yes, asking your Muslims colleagues to constantly denounce terrorism is Islamaphobic. No, criticizing the military actions of Israel is NOT anti-semitic. 

NOTE: Please remember that Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and all people of the Global Majority are at higher risk of being punished or fired for speaking up against genocide and decolonizing our work. If you hold privileged identities and especially are in positions of power, please speak up. If you’re not sure what to say, ask your colleagues what you can say on their behalf. And if your colleagues of the global majority are punished in any way, stand up and take action for them.