‘Behind-the-Scenes’ of Social Impact: Practising Compassionate Recognition
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
“Our efforts save lives, restore order, manage chaos, and respond to crises, yet this often goes unrecognised or unacknowledged. Having compassion for oneself and others is a powerful way to break this pattern.”
— Marise Sagna
This conversation is part of the YCompassion Leadership Programme Reflective Series, featuring reflections from programme participants and peers on practicing compassionate, human-centred leadership in the social impact sector.
What drew you to explore compassion practices?
In times like these, there is so little time to pause, reflect, and explore. As societal, geopolitical, and environmental crises deepen, individuals and organisations around the world are turning inward - reproducing the very chaos we aim to escape and jeopardising progress everywhere.
But there must be a better way for us to move forward. Discovering what this way might be is what led me to explore compassion.
What compassionate tool do you wish more people knew about and used?
One of the most valuable lessons from the YCompassion Leadership programme was understanding the difference between compassion and empathy.
Rather than feeling with someone, compassion allows us to keep a healthy distance from their feelings, so we can support them proactively without becoming overwhelmed.
Learning this distinction and practising it when facing discomfort has had a significant impact on my life.
Is there a moment when a compassionate response made a tangible difference within your work?
Absolutely. To help me navigate a professional conflict, I applied learnings from the ‘Four Principles of Compassionate Feedback’, a framework that integrates research on psychological safety, emotional intelligence, and nonviolent communication to deliver feedback more effectively.
Starting by outlining the positives helped me address the bottleneck compassionately. The result was a much smoother conversation that helped us both to gain a better understanding of both sides of the problem.
From your perspective, why is compassion vital for the future of our sector?
When you’re working behind the scenes in social impact, and not on the front lines, it’s easy to feel underappreciated.
Our efforts save lives, restore order, manage chaos, and respond to crises, yet this often goes unrecognised or unacknowledged. This disconnect can leave many of us feeling stressed, overburdened, and undervalued, potentially fostering unhealthy work environments.
Having compassion for oneself and others is a powerful way to break these patterns and transform our working world - from how we deliver feedback in times of disagreement to establishing healthy boundaries and rebalancing power dynamics.
What ideas are you interested in exploring that bring compassionate ways of working into practice?
I am currently taking a professional pause to focus on caring for my family. Interestingly, I am applying the lessons from the YCompassion course to this stage of my life as well, and I feel deeply grateful.
About Marise
Marise Sagna has extensive experience in advancing global education initiatives that empower young people. Formerly the Global Director at Food for the Hungry, Marise was an Education Advisor for organisations such as CARE and UNICEF, supporting the development and implementation of education programmes worldwide, overseeing donor engagement efforts, monitoring mechanisms, policy reforms, and high-level advocacy.
Marise was in the second cohort of the YCompassion Leadership Programme.
This conversation reflects Marise's personal views and not those of any organisation she has worked for or currently works for.
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