Degan Ali

Born in Somalia to mother Fatima Jibrell and a father who was a Somali military officer and diplomat, her family moved to Washington when Degan Ali was nine years old.{{Cite web |last=Wall |first=Imogen |date=2016-03-21 |title='We are demanding change': the Somali woman taking on international NGOs |url=http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/mar/21/degan-ali-somali-woman-taking-on-the-humanitarian-system |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} Her family lived in Chicago where she attended school and university.

Ali was employed by the United Nations and deployed to Somalia before she resigned in disillusionment. After initially working as the Vice Director,Rooney, F. (2007). Exceptional Women Environmentalists. Canada: Second Story Press. she became Executive Director of Adeso (African Development Solutions){{Cite web |date=2020-10-09 |title=Degan Ali announced as Oceania Connect opening keynote speaker |url=https://acfid.asn.au/news/degan-ali-announced-oceania-connect-opening-keynote-speaker |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=ACFID |language=en}} where she has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts to provide more funding to local humanitarian organizations,{{Cite web |date=2021-02-21 |title=Does Africa need foreign aid? |url=https://www.newtimes.co.rw/opinions/does-africa-need-foreign-aid |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=The New Times {{!}} Rwanda |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2016-04-18 |title=10 of the best humanitarians to follow on social media |url=http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/apr/18/10-of-the-best-humanitarians-to-follow-on-social-media |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} and to use more cash assistance.{{Cite web |title=Degan Ali |url=https://www.weforum.org/people/degan-ali/ |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=World Economic Forum |language=en}}

After speaking about the lack of localisation at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, Ali became the founder of the Network for Empowered Aid Response.{{Cite web |date=2015-06-08 |title=NGOs: bridging the North South divide |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2015/06/08/ngos-bridging-north-south-divide |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=The New Humanitarian |language=en}} She has called for local organizations to take power, rather than wait for it to be given to them.{{Cite web |last=Doane |first=Deborah |date=10 Dec 2019 |title=Are INGOs ready to give up power? |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/are-ingos-ready-give-power/ |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=openDemocracy |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Houghton |first=Irũngũ |date=10 Oct 2016 |title=Five disempowering traits that international NGOs must drop |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/five-disempowering-traits-that-international-ngos-must-drop/ |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=openDemocracy |language=en}}

In 2020, she spoke to The New Humanitarian and was critical of the failures to implement the Grand Bargain.{{Cite news |date=2020-07-07 |title=Le mouvement Black Lives Matter contraint les ONG humanitaires à un examen de conscience |language=fr |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/07/07/le-mouvement-black-lives-matter-contraint-les-ong-humanitaires-a-un-examen-de-conscience_6045490_3212.html |access-date=2022-03-27}}

In 2021, at the Global Steering Group Impact Summit she warned of colonial attitudes and how they influence international aid spending.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-06 |title=Sir Ronald Cohen: Victory is in sight! |url=https://www.pioneerspost.com/news-views/20211006/sir-ronald-cohen-victory-sight |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=www.pioneerspost.com |language=en}}

Ali runs DA Consulting, which created a framework to help international aid agencies to decolonise and switch away from service delivery towards advocacy and solidarity with local aid agencies.{{Cite web |last=Aly |first=Heba |author-link=Heba Aly (journalist) |date=2022-08-12 |title=Ten efforts to decolonise aid |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2022/08/12/10-efforts-to-decolonise-aid |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=The New Humanitarian |language=en}}

• Degan Ali and Kirsten Gelsdorf, [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912412000090 Risk-averse to risk-willing: Learning from the 2011 Somalia cash response], Global Food Security 1.1 (2012): 57-63.{{Cite journal |last1=Maxwell |first1=Daniel |last2=Fitzpatrick |first2=Merry |date=2012-12-01 |title=The 2011 Somalia famine: Context, causes, and complications |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221191241200003X |journal=Global Food Security |series=Special Issue on the Somalia Famine of 2011-2012 |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=5–12 |doi=10.1016/j.gfs.2012.07.002 |issn=2211-9124}}{{Cite journal |last1=Coughlan de Perez |first1=E. |last2=van den Hurk |first2=B. |last3=van Aalst |first3=M. K. |last4=Jongman |first4=B. |last5=Klose |first5=T. |last6=Suarez |first6=P. |date=2015-04-23 |title=Forecast-based financing: an approach for catalyzing humanitarian action based on extreme weather and climate forecasts |url=https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/15/895/2015/ |journal=Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |language=English |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=895–904 |doi=10.5194/nhess-15-895-2015 |bibcode=2015NHESS..15..895C |issn=1561-8633|doi-access=free }}
• Degan Ali and Kate Churchill-Smith, [https://www.calpnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/seeking-acceptance-the-promise-of-cash-in-highrisk-areas.pdf Seeking Acceptance: The Promise of Cash in High-Risk Areas], Prepared for the Second World Conference on Humanitarian Studies at Tufts University, June 2011Nor, Mohamed Ibrahim. "Do the global oil price shocks affect Somalia's unregulated exchange rate volatility?." (2018).

APA

• Degan Ali and Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/black-lives-matter-also-reckoning-foreign-aid-and-international-ngos/ Black Lives Matter is also a reckoning for foreign aid and international NGOs], OpenDemocracy, 2020
• Degan Ali, Fanta Toure and Tilleke Kiewied, [https://odihpn.org/publication/cash-relief-in-a-contested-area-lessons-from-somalia/ Cash relief in a contested area Lessons from Somalia] 2005, Humanitarian Practice NetworkGrosh, Margaret, et al. For protection and promotion: The design and implementation of effective safety nets. World Bank Publications, 2008.

• Localisation (humanitarian practice)

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.deganali.com/ Degan Ali] - official website
• [https://twitter.com/deganali Degan Ali] on Twitter

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Category:Humanitarian aid

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:People from Somali Region

Category:Somali diaspora in the United States

Category:Somalian emigrants to the United States