Theorizing NGOs examines how the rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has transformed the conditions of women's lives and of feminist organizing. Victoria Bernal and Inderpal Grewal suggest that we can understand the proliferation of NGOs through a focus on the NGO as a unified form despite the enormous variation and diversity contained within that form. Theorizing NGOs brings together cutting-edge feminist research on NGOs from various perspectives and disciplines. Contributors locate NGOs within local and transnational configurations of power, interrogate the relationships of nongovernmental organizations to states and to privatization, and map the complex, ambiguous, and ultimately unstable synergies between feminisms and NGOs. While some of the contributors draw on personal experience with NGOs, others employ regional or national perspectives. Spanning a broad range of issues with which NGOs are engaged, from microcredit and domestic violence to democratization, this groundbreaking collection shows that NGOs are, themselves, fields of gendered struggles over power, resources, and status. Contributors. Sonia E. Alvarez, Victoria Bernal, LeeRay M. Costa, Inderpal Grewal, Laura Grünberg, Elissa Helms, Julie Hemment, Saida Hodžic, Lamia Karim, Sabine Lang, Lauren Leve, Kathleen O'Reilly, Aradhana Sharma

"By examining how NGOs operate in Southern India in the early 2000's, this book discusses the challenges faced by small, local NGOs in the uncertain times of changing aid dynamics. The key findings focus on what empowerment means for Indian women, and how NGO accountability to these groups is an important part of the empowerment being realised. The notion of community empowerment, in which the 'solidarity' of a group can be a path to individual empowerment, is discussed, as well as analysing how empowerment can be a useful concept in development. Based on case studies of 15 NGOs as well as in-depth interviews with 80 women's self-help groups, the book highlights the key features of effective empowerment programs. The author uses innovative statistical analysis tools to show how a key factor in empowerment of marginalised women is the accountability relationship between themselves and the supporting NGO. The book goes on to discuss the ways that NGOs can work with communities in the future, and recognises the limitations of a donor-centric accountability framework. It provides a useful contribution to studies on South Asia as well as Gender and Development Studies. Introduction 1. Non-Governmental Organisations in India 2. The work of NGOs in India - SHGs and Women's Empowerment 3. Rural NGOs 4. Pune Waste-picker program 5. Measuring Women's Empowerment 6. NGO Accountability 7. Conclusion"--Publisher's description.

Essentials of International Health provides an introduction to international health with a focus on epidemiological, political, behavioral, sociological, cultural, and medical dimensions in the field. The text covers problems concerning both developed and developing countries (with an emphasis on developing countries) and introduces population-based public health approaches to solving international health problems. Topics include historical perspectives, health indicators, role of culture and behavior, communicable diseases, non communicable diseases, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies and obesity, environmental health and population issues, health of women, health of children, mental health, world health systems, and future issues in international health. This text is ideal for undergraduate students, introductory graduate classes, and practitioners interested in working in developing countries.

"The 2012 report recognized that expanding women's agency - their ability to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities is key to improving their lives as well as the world. This report represents a major advance in global knowledge on this critical front. The vast data and thousands of surveys distilled in this report cast important light on the nature of constraints women and girls continue to face globally. This report identifies promising opportunities and entry points for lasting transformation, such as interventions that reach across sectors and include life-skills training, sexual and reproductive health education, conditional cash transfers, and mentoring. It finds that addressing what the World Health Organization has identified as an epidemic of violence against women means sharply scaling up engagement with men and boys. The report also underlines the vital role information and communication technologies can play in amplifying women's voices, expanding their economic and learning opportunities, and broadening their views and aspirations. The World Bank Group's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity demand no less than the full and equal participation of women and men, girls and boys, around the world." -- Publisher's description.

Large-scale poverty reduction depends on the effective empowerment of poor people themselves. This publication sets out a conceptual framework that can be used to monitor and evaluate empowerment programmes, based on papers written by practitioners and researchers in a wide variety of fields, including economics and political science, sociology and psychology, anthropology and demography. These papers draw on research and practical experience at different levels, from households to communities to nations and in various regions of the world.

Focusing on the term empowerment this book examines the various meanings given to the concept of empowerment and the many ways power can be expressed - in personal relationships and in wider social interactions.

This publication offers a framework for the empowerment of people living in poverty throughout the world that concentrates on increasing people's freedom of choice and action to shape their own lives. Based on analysis of practical experiences, the book identifies four key elements to support empowerment: information, inclusion and participation, improved accountability and local organisational capacity. This framework is then applied to five areas of action to improve development effectiveness: provision of basic services, improved local governance, improved national governance, pro-poor market development, and access to justice and legal aid. It also offers twenty 'tools and practices' which concentrate on a wide-range of topics to support the empowerment of the poor.

This book uses an open, explorative approach to deal with the different aspects of gender discrimination and gender empowerment policies, as well as their impact on economic development and capacity-building in several African countries. It uses primary and secondary data to present the argument that, without the full input of women, sustainable development will not be achieved in many African countries. This book is the first text written by knowledgeable gender issue experts that understand the culture of, and lived and conducted research in, Africa. It provides many examples of the relationships between gender and economic development around the African continent, highlighting different processes and practices. As such, the contributors here illustrate the impact of weak gender policies, and the ability to adequately develop female capacity building that could lead to wide-spread sustainable economic growth in Africa. They also explore a wide range of new dimensions and variables that are commonly ignored by other text books on gender equality. The book will help graduate, undergraduate students and other readers to understand women’s policies in the past, present, and future by analysing and illustrating cultural, political and socio-historical contexts which have shaped women’s role in the economic and sustainable development of Africa.