2024 Year in Review

Impact, highlights, and gratitude from another massive year

Letter from the ICAAD Team

Dear friends,

The year is drawing to a close, and our network –  spread across both hemispheres and many time zones –  are in reflection on the past year.

Our goal remains the same: to equip those most harmed by systemic inequity to become leaders in the transformation of those unjust systems. In a world where the rate of change continues to accelerate, we are watching an increasing polarization across our social and political systems. Disconnection between the powerful and the marginalized, regardless of where it is occurring, always stems from some form of supremacy. Addressing those supremacist underpinnings requires a holistic transformation of the entire system, not just isolated parts of it. By fostering partnerships between grassroots advocates and those with access to resources and useful technical expertise, we are creating lasting shifts in how systems operate, ensuring that the voices of the most marginalized inform equitable policies, practices and structures. This approach strengthens community resilience and accelerates the dismantling of structural inequities globally.

Still, as we look ahead, the challenges we face are not merely extensions of the past but are shaped by emerging forces, including the rise of authoritarianism and the unchecked influence of technological determinism. Our work continues to serve as a bulwark against these challenges by integrating local insights with global advocacy. By co-designing solutions with our partners, we offer actionable strategies that are both rooted in lived experiences and forward-looking, ensuring that our collective efforts remain adaptive, equitable, and impactful.

Fostering partnerships where this is possible requires patience, openness, and agility, as we build trust and understanding. The solutions that are arrived at under these circumstances, however, are always more useful than premeditated, inorganic interventions.

Our approach to any particular problem is determined in collaboration with our local partner organizations, in response to their unique contexts and resources. We have loved connecting with you over our newsletter updates, and this report will serve as a high-level summary of our work this year. We are delighted to share with you what we have learned, the relationships that have brought us here, and the impact of our collective efforts that we have watched ripple across the globe.

Each act of advocacy can feel like a drop in the ocean, but the ocean is made of droplets. Here is what we have added in 2024.

Warmly, 

The ICAAD Team

Adam Rohe, Jyoti Diwan, Erin Thomas, Jaspreet Singh and Hansdeep Singh