Make it practical: summarizing academic articles...
about philanthro-aid, development, and gender – so that you don’t have to (or, to inspire you to read them yourself)
Those of us who work in the international aid, development, and other philanthropic sectors know there is often a disconnect between the academics who write about the sector and the people who work within it. There are many reasons: the rushed pace of our work that veers us toward quick reads, institutions that discourage us from looking at root causes, the lack of free access to academic journals, and just a general frustration with getting to the end of an academic article and then not knowing what to do with the information you just read.
A common refrain for workers in the sector, especially in the gender and women’s rights and liberation space, is to “make it practical.” When the people running organizations or implementing grants receive a gender analysis report, a research paper, or an evaluation, we want to know the practical implications of what is in that report. More specifically, we want to know what steps we can take that are within our power to do so. With stringent donor requirements, short program timeframes, organizational politics, global geopolitics, and precious little funding, the steps we can take are usually very limited.
Academic and scholarly articles can feel like they are a far distance from practical recommendations, but I really enjoy trying to make those connections. So, my contribution to this academic / practitioner impasse will be to use this newsletter for my clients, friends, and partners to share summaries of academic articles (and book chapters) about gender, development, and philanthropy - along with some of my takeaways regarding the “practical” implications.
Below are some of the books and articles (and a long-form ‘thinkpiece’ that lies in the gray area) that I’ve already got lined up to share summaries and takeaways. What would you add to this list?
The revolution will not be funded: beyond the non-profit industrial complex by INCITE! originally published in 2007 (I’ll share chapters separately)
Taking the power out of empowerment, by Srilatha Batliwala, 2007 (a favorite!)
Feminism and the Politics of Empowerment in International Development by Carole Biewener and Marie-Hélène Bacqué, 2015
Funding Empowerment: US Foundations and Global Gender Equality by Jill A. Irvine, 2019
Advancing feminist alternatives in the context of neoliberalism: reflections from advocating on unpaid care and domestic work by Francesca Rhodes and Chiara Capraro, 2017
Poor education, unemployment and the promise of skills: the hegemony of the ‘skills mismatch’ discourse by Fida Adely et al, 2021
Let me know what articles you want me to summarize and review. Post a comment or send an email.
Updates…
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