Meet the boss

Dorothy might be a mother who tends to a small vegetable farm in Ghana, and still makes time to sit on a local government committee.

Dorothy might be a young professional, working her way up through the government in Malawi, striving to create change by developing projects and innovations that will better serve her fellow citizens.

Dorothy might not even be a woman at all — for Dorothy is a concept, a personal talisman that helps EWBers hold themselves accountable to the people who we work in partnership and solidarity with.

We ask “what would Dorothy have us do”, not because we pretend to know what any Dorothy would want, or because we think that the complex problems of poverty and inequality are easily reduced, or because all Dorothy’s are the same.

Instead, we ask “what would Dorothy have us do” in order to force reflection, to remind ourselves, when we struggle with daily decisions and dilemmas, why we are engaged in the work we are. To recognize that our decisions and actions are connected to the daily realities of those who we have never met, but whose aspirations we wish to support.