Working together on the funding proposal for the DÁVGI project felt like its own project and taught me valuable lessons about the importance of human connection and the need for time and perseverance.

On the night of submission, while reviewing the budget one last time, I discovered an inequity in the planned distribution of funding between the Saami Council and the German institutions due to differing overhead cost calculations. My heart sank because our project about ethical research appeared to stand on an unjust foundation. 

Despite the stress, reaching out to Elle Merete at the Saami Council was eased by our established trust, built through previous collaborations. I felt that I was reaching out to a person, not an institution.

Thanks to the pre-existing relationships among the potential project partners, and even though we didn’t know if the project would be funded in the end, we persisted in further developing the proposal.  We did not submit it that day but decided to dedicate the necessary time to create a fair budget. While we couldn’t alter the funding structures, we devised a solution to ensure proportional funding for all partner institutions.