TY - JOUR
T1 - International Development Volunteering as Transformational Feminist Practice for Gender Equality
AU - Tiessen, Rebecca
AU - Rao, Sheila
AU - Lough, Benjamin J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for the support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for funding this research (grant number anonymized) and to the three research assistants (Liana Fraser, Anne Shileche, and Ephron Gausi) for their respective assistance in data collection in Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada with a Partnership Development Grant Number 890-2014-8051.
Funding Information:
We are grateful for the support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for funding this research (grant number anonymized) and to the three research assistants (Liana Fraser, Anne Shileche, and Ephron Gausi) for their respective assistance in data collection in Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 SAGE Publications.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - International and transnational commitments to gender equality require strategies that tackle root causes and prevailing attitudes that perpetuate disparities. In this article, we examine the role and impact of international development volunteers (IDV) as development actors who are well-placed for feminist transformational change, as they work in transnational spaces to influence, support, or reinforce changes in attitudes and behaviors towards gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). This qualitative study analyses data collected from 45 interviews in three countries (Malawi, Kenya and Uganda) to document partner organization perspectives on relational dynamics emerging from interactions with IDVs. Partner organization staff highlighted several notable positive and negative contributions to GEWE outcomes arising from day-to-day interactions with IDVs. These interactions shaped their understandings of GEWE, enhanced confidence for GEWE programming, and provided exposure to role models who can shape alternative attitudes and behaviors to gender equality. While the study revealed varying degrees of challenges and benefits for partner organizations working with volunteers specifically on gender equality, partner organization staff highlighted contributions made by IDVs to transnational spatial relations, as well as the transformational interactions that shaped these relations. Insights provided by partner country staff members offer subaltern perspectives and rich insights into the contributions of IDVs in gender equality programming and shed new light on the challenges and opportunities for fostering transnational feminist spaces of knowledge sharing, relationship building, and alternative practices.
AB - International and transnational commitments to gender equality require strategies that tackle root causes and prevailing attitudes that perpetuate disparities. In this article, we examine the role and impact of international development volunteers (IDV) as development actors who are well-placed for feminist transformational change, as they work in transnational spaces to influence, support, or reinforce changes in attitudes and behaviors towards gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). This qualitative study analyses data collected from 45 interviews in three countries (Malawi, Kenya and Uganda) to document partner organization perspectives on relational dynamics emerging from interactions with IDVs. Partner organization staff highlighted several notable positive and negative contributions to GEWE outcomes arising from day-to-day interactions with IDVs. These interactions shaped their understandings of GEWE, enhanced confidence for GEWE programming, and provided exposure to role models who can shape alternative attitudes and behaviors to gender equality. While the study revealed varying degrees of challenges and benefits for partner organizations working with volunteers specifically on gender equality, partner organization staff highlighted contributions made by IDVs to transnational spatial relations, as well as the transformational interactions that shaped these relations. Insights provided by partner country staff members offer subaltern perspectives and rich insights into the contributions of IDVs in gender equality programming and shed new light on the challenges and opportunities for fostering transnational feminist spaces of knowledge sharing, relationship building, and alternative practices.
KW - Gender equality
KW - international development volunteering
KW - transnational feminism
KW - women’s empowerment
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U2 - 10.1177/0169796X20972260
DO - 10.1177/0169796X20972260
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096895336
SN - 0169-796X
VL - 37
SP - 30
EP - 56
JO - Journal of Developing Societies
JF - Journal of Developing Societies
IS - 1
ER -