Confessions of a gender advisor: Why I avoid the word “empowerment”

February 27, 2020
Sabine Garbarino is an independent gender and inclusion consultant specialising in economic development programming. I have a confession: I’ve recently banned colleagues at a private sector development programme in Liberia from using the term empowerment or women’s economic empowerment or WEE.  Here is why (and it’s not just my personal dislike of an unfortunate abbreviation):  Language matters Over the last years, I’ve noticed
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Against fascism in India: in solidarity, through care

February 26, 2020
Enda Verde and Chandan Kumar write about how women are leading the resistance against the unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Act in India. Enda Verde is a Ph.D. candidate working in both Europe and India. Chandan Kumar is a labor rights activist based in Pune, India, and part of a citizen’s movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act called “Hum Bharat Ke Log.”
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Research Methodology Klaxon: Lessons from two years of doing ‘Governance Diaries’ in scary places

February 25, 2020
The first outputs are now appearing from ‘Governance Diaries’, a really fascinating new research method that emerged from an initial conversation in a bar in Yangon 4 years ago. If you’re even slightly interested in research, please take a look at this first paper on the emerging methodology, by Miguel Loureiro, Anuradha Joshi, Katrina Barnes and Egídio Chaimite. What are
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6 ways Southern Civil Society Organizations interact with marginalized groups; 4 ways they deal with closing civic space

February 24, 2020
Some interesting research on the realities of CSOs in the Global South and their interaction with the aid sector is coming out of the Netherlands (see last week’s post for more on this theme). Check out this new paper by the ‘Civil Society Research Collective’ – Margit van Wessel, Suparana Katyaini, Yogesh Mishra, Farhat Naz, B. Rajeshwari, Rita Manchanda, Reetika
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Development Nutshell: audio summary of posts w/b 17th Feb

February 22, 2020
No excerpt
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Eleven Recommendations for Working on Empowerment and Accountability in messy/dangerous places

February 21, 2020
The Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) programme, which I’ve been sporadically involved with, is now digesting the findings of its first 3 years of research, and has identified some important ‘recurring themes’ across its 5 focus countries (Egypt, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria and Pakistan). The result? Eleven Recommendations for Working on Empowerment and Accountability in Fragile, Conflict or Violence-Affected Settings.
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Islamophobia and ‘Whiteness’ as two sides of the same coin

February 20, 2020
‘Whiteness’ is often claimed through distancing oneself from what is not considered ‘white’. NGOs in Kosovo, a Muslim majority country, for instance aspire to ‘Whiteness’ by denying Muslimness. Adem Ferizaj is a Balkan essayist writing about the region’s political and cultural issues. The Balkan region is often left out when it comes to debates about ‘development’ or ‘aid’, even though
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Why is the Far-Right so hostile to Gender? How does it understand Masculinity?

February 19, 2020
Guest post by Nick Galasso of Oxfam America The resurgence of far-right populism, from Brazil to Europe to India and the US, presents a challenge to NGOs unforeseen even a few years ago. The common thread of ethno-nationalism, coupled with calls to revive traditional gender roles and values, is making it harder to protect refugees and ethnic minorities, advance gender
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Women in Kenya rebuild resilience amidst an eco-cultural crisis

February 18, 2020
Wangũi wa Kamonji is an independent researcher, dancer, writer and facilitator centering Africa, ancestrality and the Earth in her work. She is based in Kenya and is a fellow at the Climate and Environmental Justice Media program with FRIDA – The Young Feminist Fund in partnership with OpenGlobalRights. This piece was published as part of this partnership, by OpenGlobalRights. Sabella Kaguna
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Links I Liked

February 17, 2020
‘INGOs have a mixed track record of engagement with in-country mission-driven organizations and need to be encouraged to engage with transparency, respect, and genuine partnership.’ Good suggestions for how to do so from Ruth Levine ht Rakesh Rajani Nice New Yorker piece on degrowth vs green growth with a big shout-out to rock start exfamer Kate Raworth ht Ken Shadlen
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Development Nutshell: FP2P posts for w/b 10th February

February 15, 2020
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How to Decolonize Academia. Interview with Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo

February 14, 2020
I recently sat down with Akosua Adomako Ampofo, President of the African Studies Association of Africa to discuss her life, decolonization (including my own) and the research system. It’s 40 minutes, really interesting, and follows nicely from yesterday’s much-talked about post by Teni Tayo, but here’s some highlights for the non podcast community. Personal Background: My mother is German, my
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