Count your shoes

Since 2000, the German development bank KfW has organised public panel discussions on globalisation. In its 50th instalment on 16 June, three Africans and two Europeans, one woman and four men, discussed the topic "development is the future". Dirk Messner, Director of the German Institute for Devlopment Policy (DIE) emphasised the need to address climate change; Simon Maxwell from the British Overseas Development Institue (ODI) called for Europeans to unite their efforts in a common development policy and enhanced coherence between development and other policies. Francis Appiah (African Peer Review Mechanism APRM) reiterated the appeal for better co-ordinated, multilateral approaches. He said government officials in Ghana spent about 300 days a year in donor meetings of all kinds... Norah Uwaraga, ED of a consultancy bureau, pointed to the potential benefits of carbon emissions trading to the lives of "ordinary" Africans.

Strong women

On 11 November, the development bank KfW in Berlin hosted its 46th roundtable on globalisation, with the title Development Needs Strong Women". An illustruous selection of German women's development experts discussed issues around gender and development. Unfortunately, much time was lost to a sterile debate about the translation of the term "gender" into German. But it is reassuring to learn that KfW, a major actor in German development policy, has developed a stringent gender mainstreaming strategy, defended by an impressive policy expert, and that the Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) has equipped itself with a Gender Unit.
On the other hand, I was disappointed by some examples the speakers presented that focused on women's practical needs within female roles considered acceptable in mainstream culture, e.g. tailoring courses. Gender sensititive work must consider strategic needs as well, supporting women (and men!) who wish to challenge gender stereotypes within their societies. This happens, to a certain extent, when women play an active role as builders of their own water schemes - an example that was mentioned, to pay due respect to the panel. Personally, I am proud of a project we funded when I worked for Oxfam Germany: Afghan women engineers who could not exercise their jobs under the Taliban regime took refresher courses in engineering so as to put their skills to the service of national reconstruction. Here's a beautiful combination of the practical and the strategic.

7th International Dialogue on Population and Sustainable Development - Cultural Diversity and Gender Equality

Today I attended a highly stimulating conference in Berlin: "Exploring Cultural Diversity and Gender Equality: towards universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights".It started with a panel discussion featuring illustruous speakers including Gita Sen, a pioneer in gender & development research and activism. She shared key findings from her (et al.) report on Gender Inequity in Health. The full report Unequal, Unfair, Ineffective and Inefficient - Gender Inequity in Health: Why it exists and how we can change it is available on the net (see link list at the bottom of my blog).