Sekai Makoni came to Action Learning through NEON (the New Economy Organisers Network). Her interests lie within campaigning, such as with Sisters Uncut who are a direct action feminist group who work to counter government cuts to domestic violence services. She finds action learning to be a useful tool to help uncover innovative approaches to complex problems. Sekai lives in Rotterdam where she is an artist, culture and knowledge programme leader (at HipHopHuis), workshop facilitator and podcaster.

Sekai has run action learning sets for women of colour organising intersectionally, in order to provide a safe space for women of colour to hear each other’s experiences and explore new approaches. She has used action learning in art contexts such as running sets for women artists considering their next moves and has worked with those in the criminal justice sector, refugees and migrants, women and girls groups and emerging and mid-career leaders through Clore Social.

Sekai’s MSc at LSE was in Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies, she moved to the Netherlands to do a second Masters in 2017, where she did Critical Studies at the art school Sandberg Institute. Her research explored Black women’s identities in the Netherlands and the links to colonial histories. Sekai’s art work uses audio techniques to capture and preserve the voices of Black women as can be seen on her podcast Between Ourselves. Sekai’s academic expertise lie within anti-racism, decolonial thought and Black feminist praxis and she brings this to all of her work especially in terms of how she holds space within action learning.

You can read more about our work with NEON here.