One year of consulting

My little consultancy has just turned one year old. So this seems a good moment to reflect on the year that was, and look ahead to what comes next.

The past year

After leaving Amnesty International last year, my intention was to find fresh ways of contributing big-picture thinking about how to improve the state of the world. We are in the midst of multiple crises, all exacerbating each other, and the interconnectedness is very clear. Nothing about the future seems remotely certain, and no existing framework seems to hold satisfactory answers.

In this context, old ways of doing things are floundering, including in the human rights sector where I have spent my career to date - and where we have been doing much soul-searching in recent years.

This is a time which demands fresh thinking and new strategies. How do we interpret the world around us, and reshape our work accordingly? Where should we be doubling down, where do we need to change our approaches? Can we look beyond the confines of our favoured frameworks and develop more interdisciplinary ways of pursuing positive change in the world?

These are big questions, and they have many different angles. So my first year has been one of exploration, trying to find better ways of articulating the challenges we face in the world, and what we can do to address them.

After years in the weeds of human rights work, it has therefore been great to anchor myself in a think-tank for this next phase. My main work over the past year has been with Chatham House , on its multi-year Human Rights Pathways project hosted by the excellent International Law Programme (particular shoutouts to Ruma Mandal , Harriet Moynihan , Chanu Peiris , Rashmin Sagoo ), which is exploring the future prospects for human rights. We have held four roundtables bringing together smart thinkers and practitioners on human rights diplomacy and the relevance of human rights to the climate crisis, to inequality, and to technology, with a fifth coming up, led by Shaharzad Akbar , on how we can learn from failures and regressions. Look out for a report on the politics of human rights diplomacy in early 2023 (currently in the final editing stages), followed by another on renewing human rights, which should be released ahead of a Chatham House conference in mid-2023.

I have also worked with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) as it asks what human rights can contribute to the complex set of challenges facing Europe. I acted as rapporteur for a meeting of human rights leaders and experts near Vienna in September, focusing on the climate crisis, disinformation, and Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. We released a summary report a few days after the meeting with reflections on how the human rights framework needs to evolve. The full report came out this month.

As well as the solo work, I have begun to form a collective with a couple of others based on our complementary skills and experience, and a shared view of the predicaments and opportunities facing the human rights sector. Our intention is to help organisations thinking through how to make an impact in the world, bringing our different perspectives to the task. Danny Vannucchi and I worked together on a review (as mandated by donors) for the Right to Education Initiative , which has an unusual but effective model as a provider of technical expertise for the sector, and we are helping them to develop their next strategy. We are also now working with Human Rights Watch (HRW) to help them prepare for their next strategy, beginning with a global trends analysis.

Meanwhile, I have become part of TrustWorks Global , a small and ambitious social enterprise which works to ensure that businesses contribute positively to peace and stability in fragile and conflict-affected settings. I see a really important place for engagement with investors and businesses alongside the more confrontational approach of many NGOs, and I hope to create new opportunities for critical dialogue. TrustWorks CEO Josie Lianna Kaye PhD has big plans for the future, and I am looking forward to contributing more in the coming months.

And recently I joined the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB). This was partly about reconnecting with my previous work on this theme (more here), but also because I see FORB as an important framework for some of the big challenges we face. It offers a way to confront the religious nationalism that is increasingly rife, and to assert the rights of beleaguered minorities. Freedom of thought, a subset of FORB, is very important in relation to regulating digital technology. And since FORB is sometimes used as a justification for opposing other rights, it is essential to reclaim it within a holistic view of human rights. Following our first get-together in Warsaw, there is plenty on the agenda for this dynamic group.

All this work is so much richer when stimulated by interacting in person, and it was was also great to sit around the table at Wilton Park, to reconnect with many old friends at the FORB Ministerial, and to share various panels including with Nazila Ghanea and Bennett Freeman at Chatham House, and with Poonam Joshi at the International Civic Forum.

What I have learned

It is at first terrifying to go it alone. Truly.

However, it gets easier. I have followed much the same trajectory as everyone who advised me: starting with the Fear, moving to a tentative sense that things might work out, then becoming reassuringly busy.

I have been very fortunate to have had a stable project with Chatham House from the beginning. One is enough to get going. The bigger challenge has been to work out clearly what is my core offering, and what value others see in me. That has taken a little time but is coming together.

There has also been a learning curve about running a small business and all this entails. The administration is a small part of my time, but significant nonetheless.

Above all, the past year has given me many wonderful opportunities to connect with a vast array of people across many different sectors and different parts of the world with tremendous freedom. There have been opportunities to explore different interests and methodologies, and to develop little communities and pockets of colleagues in multiple organisations simultaneously. The chance to think bigger than one organisation is very refreshing, and each piece of work I have done has in some way enhanced the others.

A year ago I was excited but full of trepidation; now I am more settled and seeing even more possibilities ahead.

The year to come

There is plenty of engaging work in the pipeline, with a blend of substance and analysis and strategy. There is also room for more in the coming months, so I am open to other opportunities where I can have a positive impact, and am thinking ahead to possible projects that I would like to launch.

My consultancy itself could conceivably grow from this point. At the moment, Eikona Consulting is simply an administrative vehicle for my work - the name is not too significant, a nod to my focus on the big picture and vision for the future (drawing on the help of my Greek friend Maro Pantazidou ). In the months ahead I may develop a more outward-facing identity, which more clearly reflects the aim of understanding the world and interpreting it for the work of social and political change.

Over the next year, among other things I would like to do more with the private sector and with governments. I think there are several ways I can add value, and I am looking forward to exploring opportunities here.

I have also long nurtured a hope to find a way of providing support (including trauma counselling, networking and strategising opportunities, and teaching) to beleaguered and pressured human rights defenders and others, who struggle through years under relentless pressure. My own burnout experience, though it had slightly different roots, has only strengthened my ambition to do this in some way in future.

I am looking forward to developing the nascent strategy collective to strengthen the work of a variety of organisations, which we think has a lot of potential.

I will also be deepening my work with the various institutions where I am affiliated, and looking to add one or two more affiliations. Doing enough consultancy work creates the possibility of some pro bono work, which is important to me.

And I am seeking to broaden my net and work more globally. I will be watching out across Asia, Africa, and the Americas for new opportunities to make a contribution.

Thank you

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to all my colleagues and collaborators over the past year, as well as everyone who has given advice and encouragement. You know who you are, and I appreciate you a lot!