In this week’s episode, Priyanthi Fernando (IWRAW Asia Pacific) tells us about her ‘disruptive’ approach to the development sector by continuously asserting Global South perspectives to the work being carried out.We discuss the embedded double standards when activists and practitioners from the Global South get invited to attend events organised by elites from the Global North - but how practitioners from the Global North very rarely attend events organised and hosted in the Global South.She tells us about IWRAW’s Global South Women’s Forum, which centred the voices of women from the Global South and provided an open space for them to talk about their needs without donor constraints. Priyanthi reflects on what it means to ‘listen’ in order to design interventions which respond to real needs. Priyanthi highlights the importance of IWRAW’s global agenda which is not only anti-racist and decolonial, but also anti-patriarchal and anti-neoliberal. Priyanthi Fernando  is the outgoing Executive Director of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch, Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP).  IWRAW AP is a feminist organisation based in Kuala Lumpur, initiated and led by women from the Global South, and working towards the protection and fulfilment of the human rights of all women everywhere.  Priyanthi has always been passionate about issues of social justice and about fighting structural inequalities relating to gender, access to technologies, and the framing of knowledge.  In over three decades of working in countries as diverse as Bangladesh or Yemen, and engaging with the bilateral, multilateral and INGOs as well as with community groups, Priyanthi has  continued to aim at disrupting those structures, systems and institutions that continue to perpetuate inequality and discrimination.If you’re interested to find out more about Priyanthi’s work, take a look here:LinkedInMs. Priyanthi Fernando | Department of Economic and Social AffairsRelevant resources:Crewe, Emma and Harrison, E. A. (1998) Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid. London; New York: Zed Press.Crewe, Emma and Fernando, P. (2006) ‘The Elephant in the Room: racism in representations, relationships and rituals.’ Progress in Development Studies, 6 (1), pp.40-54.Fernando, Priyanthi (2021) Will you come to my party? IWRAW AP Resource: Making the Unheard Heard. Relevant organisations & events:DAWN - Development Alternatives with Women for a New EraCommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against WomenGlobal South Women's ForumFeminists for a People’s VaccineThird World NetworkAWID - Association for Women’s Rights in DevelopmentSexual Rights Initiative

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