The fifth installment in the Freshwater Fellows interview series features Franki Cheung (張文華) and Yi-Fan Lee (李宜芳) of the Taiwan Rebels Culture Association (TRCM). TRCM seeks to enhance the social impact and sustainability of advocacy NGOs. In 2023, they launched a series of collaborative learning activities for NGO workers to help them grow and improve their knowledge and skills.
The employees of Tò-uat Books and Taiwan Rebels Culture Movement
Freshwater: Tell us about yourself. How did you start working in human rights?
Cheung: I’m a gay man, and I’ve always known that I was different from others. LGBT people were not really accepted in Hong Kong when I was growing up which is why I wanted to work on gender identity issues. After coming to Taiwan, I didn’t initially plan to enter the field of human rights. However, while studying Chinese Literature at Soochow University, I took courses related to human rights philosophy and transitional justice, and participated in clubs related to feminism. After returning to Hong Kong, I got involved in the movements to save the Star Ferry Pier and Queen’s Pier, both of which are closely linked to local consciousness and Hong Kong identity. So I guess you could say that my sexual orientation, exposure to human rights issues during university, and Hong Kong activism gradually pushed me into the field of human rights.
Lee: I studied journalism in college and went on to work in the media industry. As I started writing news reports, I realized that many things were not black and white. I discovered there was a lot I didn’t understand. Later I left the media industry to study in a graduate program for social enterprises.The curriculum there focused more on business innovation and sustainability, but it didn’t touch much on social issues. It wasn’t until I took courses in the Landscape Architecture department that I was exposed to social movements by the professors. While considering my career options after graduation, I felt that the media in Taiwan couldn’t provide fundamental solutions to social issues. I wanted to see how people facing these issues try to solve them to broaden my own horizons. That’s why I chose to work in an NGO instead of viewing these issues through the filter of mainstream media.
Freshwater: Freshwater Institute is supporting civil society leaders to develop innovative human rights projects. Can you tell us how your project came about?
Lee: We want to create an NGO Charging Station to provide courses teaching knowledge and skills needed by NGO workers, as well as management skills such as organizational operations and financial planning.
Cheung: Taiwan’s NGO workers need a place to share and learn about new management, governance, and communication methods. The Charging Station embodies this concept, bringing together NGOs to co-create ideas that will allow new generations of NGOs to survive and exert influence.
This program extends from our original NGO School program, where after a year of courses, we encountered some limitations. We realized that attending courses alone might not solve problems. Although it facilitated communication between and coexistence of NGOs, we realized it was not enough to create deeper organizational change. Getting people to change their existing work methods, requires more than just their willingness to do so. They also need resources such as funding and a support system within the organization.
We thus developed the NGO Charging Station through the opportunity provided by Freshwater Institute’s Human Rights Accelerator program, linking the resources we have to see if we can provide more comprehensive resources for NGO workers, helping them grow and have a greater impact.
Lee: We spent a year piloting courses and now plan to develop a paid membership system to offer more diverse services, such as one-on-one consultations and tailor-made courses. In the future, we hope to develop customized courses tailored to the needs of our members. The new membership system will launch in March.
Cheung: As Lee mentioned, we are gradually organizing the courses. The course schedule for the first half of the year is almost done. Member benefits are also gradually increasing, and the consultants for one-on-one consultations are getting ready to sign contracts.
Inside of Tò-uat Bookstore
Freshwater: What are some of the challenges you face in this project and in your work in general?
Cheung: Funding is definitely a challenge. Like Freshwater, we also want the NGO workers we know to have more financial and market resources to implement their ideas. However, I feel that the changes created by our courses are hard to measure or to be seen immediately. A course might plant a seed in someone’s heart, but we’re not sure if it will truly facilitate changes in an organization. Sometimes we do have doubts in ourselves.
Finding resources is another difficulty, whether it’s financial, teaching resources, or networking. One example is finding instructors who can connect with both NGOs and business professionals.
Lee：As Cheung mentioned, finding instructors with both NGO and business experience who can bring new insights to NGOs is challenging. Those working in the corporate sector may not fully understand the challenges faced by NGOs and thus may not be able to adapt their teaching knowledge into suitable teaching content to make it relevant to NGOs.
Conversely, NGOs need to be open to new possibilities. Some NGOs prefer instructors to provide immediately usable tools and lack the patience to explore unfamiliar concepts, such as commonly used business management practices. Often, despite their willingness, they stick to old ways especially when they lack the resources or capacity to try new approaches.
NGO Charging station
Freshwater: How has Freshwater Institute’s Human Rights Accelerator Program been helpful to you?
Lee: The accelerator program has directly helped us clarify our work structure, such as the relationships between different tasks, where resources should come from, and how to set future plans. The program started right when we wanted to develop a membership system, so we obtained great tools to help us organize these aspects. Before joining the program, I didn’t know how to systematically organize different opinions and feedback. With these tools, we can now better organize information, helping us focus and making it easier to report to our colleagues. This gives everyone a sense of a common goal, which is very important for an NGO.
Freshwater: If there is one thing you wish people could know about the issue you work on, what would that be?
Lee: We would like everyone to know that the rights they currently enjoy didn’t just fall from the sky. Instead, they were fought for by those who came before us. We need to realize that the good life and the freedom we have now exist because of these NGOs. That’s why we want to offer these courses to expand the space for civic groups.
Freshwater: What keeps you motivated?
Lee: I consider my job as a way to explore stuff in life. No matter how bad things get, there’s always something to gain. I try to view things from a broader perspective, looking at why the NGO sector emerged, the interplay of various interests in this capitalist society, the current difficulties NGOs face, and how to solve them. Every challenge is a learning opportunity, and once you’ve learned something new, you can keep moving forward.
Cheung: I have benefited a lot from the NGO community. When I first joined, I carried a certain anger, hoping to pursue justice and fairness. Now, I have received intellectual support from people who want to make society better, helping me grow and giving me space to contribute. These are all the results of the slow accumulation of those who came before us. If I can bring about changes in the NGO space, I would find it very worthwhile. Another motivation is curiosity about new things. New perspectives and concepts are always coming into the NGO field, such as NGO commercialization, the sustainability of NGOs, ESG, etc. I want to know how NGOs can keep up with modern trends, allowing Taiwanese and international NGOs more opportunities to connect. There are many issues in Taiwan that I care about and I hope to do more so that Taiwan can have more influence internationally.
Freshwater: What is something you do for fun or to relax?
Lee: I enjoy playing games on my phone and participating in social activities outside of work to engage with people outside the NGO sector, which provides me with more inspiration.
Cheung: I mainly exercise. I’m a yoga instructor and also do weight training. I also like to work on personal side projects outside of my main job to understand what frontline workers are thinking and to collaborate with other NGOs.
Freshwater: Thinking of the human rights issue you are working on, what would success feel like to you? What would make you feel like it was all worth it?
Lee: Receiving positive feedback from NGOs makes it all worthwhile. Some organizations that have participated in our courses have expressed gratitude or mentioned that they had the opportunity to connect or collaborate with other organizations because of our courses. These are small achievements for me.
Cheung: I really don’t think about this much now. A plan might help us achieve a short-term goal, but I believe the true goal will never be fully accomplished. If we simply make improving NGOs our goal, it seems strange, as if we are building our happiness on the happiness of others. To me, it’s just an ongoing process.
