The Solidarity Hub in October 2025 brought together about 100 activists, community organisers, and civil society practitioners from thirteen countries across Southern Africa and beyond for two days of reflective conversation. Unlike traditional workshops with predetermined agendas, the Hub created space for participants to pause, collectively decide what the most pressing challenges are, and then together grapple with the deeper questions shaping solidarity work.

The conversations revealed profound contradictions at the heart of solidarity work: between urgency and reflection, between community voice and expert knowledge, between paid NGO work and volunteer activism, and between welfare and political organising. Participants challenged each other to move beyond rhetoric, asking uncomfortable questions like “Are we collaborating with communities honestly, or colluding to keep them in their underdevelopment?” They reflected about whether the formal, resourced civil society would be willing to make sacrifices – and what those would be – to achieve social justice. Power emerged as the central question – who has it, who doesn’t, how it’s used, and how it’s shared. The discussions acknowledged that whilst every grouping within the development system has some power, these powers are neither balanced nor valued equally, with the perception being that money and technical knowledge carry more weight than collective mobilisation, despite the rhetoric of community-led development.

For participants, the Hub’s value lay precisely in creating space for this kind of honest interrogation. As facilitator Quincy reflected, “The Hub provided a rare and valuable opportunity for participants to pause, reflect, and interrogate the deeper questions behind our work. What struck most was the honesty and vulnerability – participants were willing to challenge assumptions, including their own, and explore uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and positionality.”

Participants left with concrete takeaways, from replicating the participatory methodologies in their own work to recognising that solidarity means answering hard questions, transcending disagreement through unity in diversity, and understanding that transformation happens not through perfect strategies but through relationships, daily practices, and small acts of kindness that accumulate into movements.