THIS CALL IS NOW CLOSED. Our March 2020 issue will focus on Re-imagining Development. See our Call for Contributions here.
International development is under fire. In 2019, in a post #AidToo world where patriarchal power and privilege are being called out by feminists and anti-racists in humanitarian response and development interventions, can international development rise to the profound critiques of it and reform to become the force for good that so many working in the sector want it to be? What insights can activists offer to re-imagine international development and humanitarian work that delivers economic, social and political justice?
This issue of Gender & Development will explore an intersectional feminist analysis to re-imagine the sector and consider what doing so would mean for our practice. The voices of feminists in development challenge the sector. In particular, we would like to look at leading by example, sharing power and decision-making in more meaningful ways; addressing the post-colonial roots of development and challenging the racism, colonialism and sexism in our organisational ‘deep cultures’, structures and ways of working; developing new ways of communicating our messages, working in genuine solidarity rather than ‘extractive’ partnership, paying due attention to the need for healing and wellbeing as part of our practice and diversifying the sector and its approaches. These are critical issues for the sector at this time.
Interested in contributing to the issue? For more information read the full Call. Please email your idea in a paragraph to the Editor, Caroline Sweetman, at csweetman@oxfam.org.uk. Joining Caroline as Guest Editor for this issue is Mary Ann Clements, creator and host of 2018’s Healing Solidarity: Re-imagining International Development.