Giving Compass' Take:

• Laura Doering and Sarah Kaplan explain how gendered interactions on the ground can make or break international development programs. 

• How can funders better understand the realities that shape the impact of development programs? 

• Learn why economic empowerment programs for women must involve men.

Women’s economic and social development happens through on-the-ground exchanges among ordinary citizens, low-level government officials, NGO workers, and others. As individuals meet, converse, argue, teach, establish relationships, and exchange resources, the real outcomes associated with development policies come to life.

As in any interpersonal communication, gendered biases shape interactions related to social and economic development and, as a result, can yield positive or negative results.

To incorporate an interaction perspective into our understanding of gendered impacts of development, we propose the following strategies:

  1. Solicit feedback from targeted beneficiaries and project coordinators when designing development policies and goals. These individuals are closest to the on-the-ground realities in which projects will unfold and are best equipped to anticipate the points at which interpersonal interactions may unexpectedly shape development outcomes.
  2. Measure the actual effects of development programs rather than assuming that programs have the impact on women that you anticipate. Based on a needs assessment, measure outcomes that matter to the beneficiaries themselves.
  3. Modify practices (not just policies) if your anticipated objectives are not achieved. Given the scope and power of gendered expectations and biases in social interactions, it is likely that some aspect of your program may unfold in unexpected ways. Rather than glossing over such divergent outcomes, anticipate that they will occur.

Read the full article on gender and development by Laura Doering and Sarah Kaplan at Stanford Social Innovation Review.