Cihan KILIC

Cihan's statement "Too often, those who live with exclusion are described, studied and funded by others, and the arrangement is called partnership. We know what it is to be spoken about. What keeps communities from the table is not a lack of talent. It is the way the table was built. We are not the beneficiaries of anyone's goodwill. We are the authors of our own struggle and the experts on our own reality. That is why we see fundraising as the return of resources and decision-making power to those who have faced structural barriers. We will not build a partnership that leaves the powerful comfortable and the community grateful. We build the ones where the community leads, sets the terms and owns the outcome."