Time for Change - a word from CRIN's outgoing Director Veronica Yates
As we say goodbye to CRIN's Director of almost two decades, here a few words from her on what it's been like and what's to come.
After almost two decades at CRIN, it is time for me to bow out and hand over the steering of the organisation to my colleagues. I don’t say this often, but I am proud of where CRIN has got to: from a one-woman show tucked away in a corner inside a big NGO, to where CRIN is today - fearlessly rights-focused, yet creative at its core. This is a good time to welcome in new leadership.
I feel so privileged to have met and worked with so many courageous people along the way from all corners of the globe; from grassroots activists to co-conspirators inside the United Nations, governments, universities and donor agencies. It has been an incredible journey and I learned more with every year I was here.
But of course it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The last few years I have struggled with burnout, which is endemic in our sector. While we are slowly starting to talk about it, there is always that little voice inside our head that tells us we couldn’t quite hack it. This isn’t true, of course. And the problem won’t be solved with self-care and meditation breaks.
Burnout is a symptom of much deeper structural issues that our broader sector must address, as a priority. Our organisations and operations, especially in the children’s rights spaces, are patriarchal and patronising, to children, to so-called ‘beneficiaries’, but also partners and supporters. If we want to continue to do our work with legitimacy - and retain the talented people trying to change things from within - we must seek total transformation.
We must also question and reimagine our role as international NGOs: should we focus on being bridge-builders between the institutions and the grassroot activists? Should we prioritise pushing for bolder human rights policies that nobody else wants to push for? How can we do this when funding is increasingly short term- and project focused?
This is work we have started to do at CRIN in the last few years, and we will continue to try to practise what we preach: from moving to a new form of shared leadership, rethinking power structures and decision-making, to how we involve children in our work and what our impact is on the planet. We have taken some initial bold steps, but much work still needs to be done and mistakes will be made along the way, but we should see this as constant work in progress.
I am happy and confident to be leaving the work to my excellent colleagues, several of whom have been with me for over ten years, and others who joined recently and brought much needed fresh energy and new perspectives. I am also grateful to our incredible Board who stepped in - and up - when the need arose, but otherwise trusted us to do our work without interference. This is also rare in our sector.
I want to extend my thanks to CRIN’s funders, in particular, all the colleagues at Wellspring, who have supported us - and trusted us - to do our work since our independence in 2009. Without their support, we would not have been able to do the work we did and experiment along the way. This is definitely and tragically, a disappearing quality among funders.
But I am not disappearing. My work continues and I will be focusing on rest and developing The Rights Studio, where we will keep questioning and thinking about how we can continue to do this important work, but differently, collaboratively and creatively. You can follow our work through our weekly illustrated journal here.
Till we meet again.
Veronica Yates
From the CRIN team
The CRIN team, from staff and trustees, want to publicly express our heartfelt appreciation for Veronica’s leadership, guidance and support, as well as her contributions as a children’s rights advocate, colleague and friend. It has been an absolute privilege to work with and learn from her. In the 20 years that Veronica has led the organisation, it grew from a team of one, to a thriving, independent children’s rights organisation.
She has played an invaluable role in advancing the respect and recognition of children’s rights. She has also never shied away from asking the hard questions and always pushed all of us to think critically. In a world filled with soundbites and so many clamouring to speak, but not enough people listening, she encouraged us to take time to deeply listen and reflect, not just respond. She has encouraged us to be clear on our purpose and hold true to our values. And she stressed the importance of building authentic relationships - not just within the children’s rights sector but beyond.
As is evident from Veronica’s statement, she has brought a lot of heart, courage and honesty to her work. Anyone who has met her knows she is a fierce advocate who has a beautiful way with words and is able to inspire others to take bold action for children’s rights and fight for change in the NGO sector. She will certainly be a tough act to follow, but she has also supported the current team to work and make decisions more collectively, leaving us in a good position to uphold CRIN’s vision.
As Veronica moves on, Lianne Minasian (Veronica’s Deputy) and Leo Ratledge (CRIN’s Legal and Policy Director) are taking on the role of interim co-directors for the next 12 months before a formal recruitment process begins.
It’s with deep gratitude that we say farewell to Veronica as our Director, but we also know it is not goodbye as she will be “down the road” further developing CRIN’s sister organisation The Rights Studio with the same dedication and passion that she brought to CRIN.
We know many of you reading this will have collaborated with Veronica over the past 20 years. If you’d like to send a message with a memory of your time with her, please do send it to info@crin.org and we will compile them for her.
As she moves on to new challenges, CRIN will continue our work to ensure that children’s rights are recognised, respected and enforced. And we will do so in the way she’s nurtured CRIN to be - fearlessly rights-focused and creative at its core.
The CRIN team