Pathways
Mobilising for Women’s Rights and the Role of Resources
2009 - 2011
Lead Researchers: Rosalind Eyben , Maheen Sultan , Sohela Nazneen , Dzodzi Tsikata , Agnes Atia Apusiga , Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay
This project concerned the significance and impact of official external financing for women’s organising at global, regional and national levels. It used participatory methods of critical reflection involving both donor staff and representatives of women’s rights organisations and networks in Bangladesh and Ghana as well as at regional and global levels.
Resources For This Project
-
Bideshi Onudan Nitir Poribortoney Bangladeshers Nari Shongothoner Oboshta
Report in Bangla on the research which interrogated the significance and relative impact of donor funding on women organising at global, national and local levels. The researchers did not assume that successful organising by women required external funding, but rather sought to clarify the conditions under which external financial support to women's organisations and groups had a positive impact on women's empowerment as well as the conditions in which successful mobilising is achievable without such support. This was a comparative research with Ghana, where one of the components examined the role of international development agencies in supporting women's organisations. …
-
Mobilising For Women’s Rights And The Role Of Resources
This report focuses on the results from research on case study organisations and donors, conducted in Bangladesh. Five women-headed WROs were chosen as case studies. Research included interviews with donor staff, document review, and validation workshops. This report synthesizes their findings and reflections based on the case studies, around three key questions: How have donors affected women’s organisations’ work and ways of working? What are WROs doing to raise resources outside of donor funding and what are the types of work they do which is not donor funded? What are the emerging pathways? The report includes an analysis of Bangladesh’s context and developments from 1995 to present, the national development-aid scenario, the influence of the Paris Declaration and attempts towards donor harmonisation; a presentation of the five case-study organisations; an analysis of the experiences of the organisations before they received donor funding; sections on “Life with and without Funding”; a presentation of the situation from the perspective of the donors; and conclusions from the research and presents issues of sustainability. …
-
Mobilising For Women's Rights And The Role Of Resources: BNWLA (Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association
A case study report of the organization BNWLA, under the umbrella of inter-country research on ‘Mobilising for Women’s Rights and the Role of Resources’ undertaken by The Research Programme Consortium (RPC) on Pathways of Women’s Empowerment. The case-study organisations were chosen to capture the diversity of different types of women’s organisations in Bangladesh which include small associations, professional networks, and NGOs. The case studies were compiled following the collection of background materials, individual interviews, and a day long reflection exercise which was carried out using participatory techniques. The case study gives a background of the organization, its institutional process, its national and international context, its timeline, its agenda and relationships, its resources, its ways of organising, mobilising and the changes that have taken place, its relations with the government, crises/conflicts with donors, and an analysis. …
-
Mobilising For Women's Rights And The Role Of Resources: BOMSA (Bangladesh Obhibashi Mohila Sromik Association)
A case study report of the organization BOMSA, under the umbrella of inter-country research on ‘Mobilizing for Women’s Rights and the Role of Resources’ undertaken by The Research Programme Consortium (RPC) on Pathways of Women’s Empowerment. The case-study organisations were chosen to capture the diversity of different types of women’s organisations in Bangladesh which include small associations, professional networks, and NGOs. The case studies were compiled following the collection of background materials, individual interviews, and a day long reflection exercise which was carried out using participatory techniques. The case study gives a background of the organization, its institutional process, its national and international context, its timeline, its agenda and relationships, its resources, BOMSA’s own reflections, and analysis of the relationship between the organization and donors. …
-
Mobilising For Women's Rights And The Role Of Resources: Kormojibi Nari
A case study report of the organization Kormojibi Nari, under the umbrella of inter-country research on ‘Mobilizing for Women’s Rights and the Role of Resources’ undertaken by The Research Programme Consortium (RPC) on Pathways of Women’s Empowerment. The case-study organisations were chosen to capture the diversity of different types of women’s organisations in Bangladesh which include small associations, professional networks, and NGOs. The case studies were compiled following the collection of background materials, individual interviews, and a day long reflection exercise which was carried out using participatory techniques. The case study gives a background of the organization, its institutional process, its national and international context, its timeline, its agenda and relationships, its resources, reflections on overall trends, its ways of organizing, mobilizing and the changes that have taken place, its relations with the government, crises/conflicts with donors, and an analysis. …
-
Mobilising Resources For Women's Organising: Doorbar Network
A case study report of the organization Doorbar Network, under the umbrella of inter-country research on ‘Mobilizing for Women’s Rights and the Role of Resources’ undertaken by The Research Programme Consortium (RPC) on Pathways of Women’s Empowerment. The case-study organisations were chosen to capture the diversity of different types of women’s organisations in Bangladesh which include small associations, professional networks, and NGOs. The case studies were compiled following the collection of background materials, individual interviews, and a day long reflection exercise which was carried out using participatory techniques. The case study gives a background of the organization, its institutional process, its national and international context, its timeline, its agenda and relationships, its resources, Doorbar Network’s own reflections, and analysis of the relationship between the organization and donors. …
-
Nari Andolon Abong Shomorthon Toirer Koushol: Akti Porjalochona
Report in Bangla on the research which documented and analysed strategies and approaches used by three national women's organisations in Bangladesh to mobilize and advocate for women's rights and raise demands to the state and other rights holders. The study challenges the established view that feminist voice, organisation and movement loses ground after democratic transitions. …
-
Rights And Resources: The Effects Of Financing On Organising For Women's Rights
This report concerns the historical trajectory of women’s rights organisations (WROs) in Bangladesh and Ghana within the changing national contexts as well as the shifting international aid landscape in the last two decades and identifies the influence of external financing on what the organisations do and how they go about it. The report offers a model for how to study the question in other contexts and it can be used by WROs in other countries to reflect upon the relevance of the findings in their own context and to respond accordingly. The influence of international aid, particularly in the 1990s and the early part of the last decade was in many ways beneficial for organisational effectiveness. Recently the funding landscape has become more hostile with funders’ interest in rights and social transformation declining. …
-
Women's Rights Organisations And Funding Regimes In Ghana
The goal of this research project was to understand the experiences and contexts of women‘s rights and feminist movements in Ghana, how different kinds of resources have shaped their mobilizing strategies, and how changing aid modalities are affecting women rights work. The report covers background, context, donor relations, organization profiles, contexts and impacts of the WROs before donor assistance, and analysis. The key findings of the study are that securing adequate resources for women‘s rights work in Ghana remains a great challenge. WROs are compelled to enter into partnerships with organisations whose gender agendas are unclear and who may not share in their feminist politics. …
