Feminists in Development Organizations arises from a collaborative project between 2007 and 2012 in which a group of feminists working inside the head offices of multilateral organizations, government aid agencies and international non-governmental organizations came together to critically reflect on their work. The personal stories in this book show that these feminists are 'tempered radicals' positioned on the border of the development agencies that employ them. It is a place where they are neither fully one thing nor another: neither fully paid-up, pen-pushing bureaucrats, nor full-blown feminist activists on the barricades. Nevertheless, feminist bureaucrats see their work as urgent, essential and a necessary contribution to global efforts to achieve women's rights. This book reflects on the progress of gender mainstreaming. It shows how feminists can build effective strategies to influence development organizations to foster greater understanding and forge more effective alliances for social change. This book is aimed at staff of development organizations - who want their organizations to become an instrument in helping transforming the lives of women - and at students and researchers concerned with the politics of gender mainstreaming.

How can international aid professionals manage to deal with the daily dilemmas of working for the wellbeing of people in countries other than their own? A scholar-activist and lifelong development practitioner seeks to answer that question in a book that provides a vivid and accessible insight into the world of aid - its people, ideas and values against the backdrop of a broader historical analysis of the contested ideals and politics of aid operations from the 1960s to the present day. Moving between aid-recipient countries, head office and global policy spaces, Rosalind Eyben critically examines her own behaviour to explore what happens when trying to improve people's lives in far-away countries and warns how self-deception may construct obstacles to the very change desired, considering the challenge to traditional aid practices posed by new donors like Brazil who speak of history and relationships. The book proposes that to help make this a better world, individuals and organisations working in international development must respond self-critically to the dilemmas of power and knowledge that shape aid's messy relations. Written in an accessible way with vignettes, stories and dialogue, this critical history of aid provides practical tools and methodology for students in development studies, anthropology and international studies and for development practitioners to adopt the habit of reflexivity when helping to make a better world.

- Comprehensive examination of how labels such as 'The Poor, ' or 'Asylum Seeker' are created and applied and how these labels shape power relations in development and aid work- Authored by leading development practitioners and researchers from the Institute of Development Studies and including international case studies addressing gender, race, religion, poverty and power in various contexts- Hands-on recommendations for tackling stigmatizing labels and methods for creating new, empowering labels and constructive ways to frame development problemsWhat does it mean to be part of the mass known as "The Poor"? What visions are conjured up in our minds when someone is labeled Muslim? And what assumptions do we make about their needs, desirability, security and disposability? How do we react individually and as a society? Who develops these labels, what power do the labels carry and how do such labels affect how people are treated?This timely book tackles the critical and controversial issue of how people are labeled and categorized and how their problems are framed and dealt with. Drawing on vast international experience and current theory, the authors examine how labels are constituted and applied by governments and aid agencies. It also examines how power relations are amplified or set on collision courses by labeling, and how the labeled view themselves and often act contrary to their externally applied labels or, in some cases, accept the labels. Coverage includes analysis of labels in current development and aid practice in a number of contexts. Importantly, the authors provide suggestions for how policy makers and professionals can tackle negative forms of labeling, including howcounter-labeling might influence key concerns such as poverty reduction, human rights, race relations, and security.

* Leading development specialists such as Robert Chambers outline a new aid system that will actually work for people in need * Provides a much needed critical assessment of why the current top-down international aid system is failing those in poverty * Key examples of successes and failures from DFID, SIDA, and Action Aid, some of the largest and most influential governmental and NGO aid agencies Events such as Live 8 and the G8 Summit focusing on aid and poverty relief have turned the world spotlight on these issues like never before. Yet the top-down international aid system is failing to respond to the needs of the very people it purports to help, and is thus failing in the task of reducing poverty and building global security. This book, authored by an internationally renowned group of aid practitioners, cuts to the root of the problem, which is that policy prescription and an overwhelming concern with measuring financial results mean that aid organizations treat recipients as powerless, voiceless entities rather than active partners in a working relationship. The solution is for aid agencies to reorient their priorities and learn how to build lasting partnerships that transfer power to the very people locked in poverty. More than just a critique, the authors offer a practical framework for understanding relationships in the international aid system and look at the relevance of organizational learning theory that is widely used in business. The Contributors: Katherine Pasteur, Institute of Development Studies (IDS); Rosalind David and Antonella Mancini, Action Aid; Patta Scott Villiers, IDS; Andrea Cornwall, IDS; Garrett Pratt, CIDA; Robert Chambers, IDS; Renwick Irvine, EmilyLarbi Jones, and Ana Cortes, DFID; Rosalind Eyben and Cathy Shutt, IDS; Fiona Wilson, University of Roskilde, Denmark; John Crabtree, independent development consultant, Oxford; and Irene Gujit, Learning by Design Consultants. (Companion to Inclusive Aid, ISBN 1 84407 033 6)

How can international aid professionals manage to deal with the daily dilemmas of working for the wellbeing of people in countries other than their own? A scholar-activist and lifelong development practitioner seeks to answer that question in a book that provides a vivid and accessible insight into the world of aid its people, ideas and values against the backdrop of a broader historical analysis of the contested ideals and politics of aid operations from the 1960s to the present day.

Moving between aid-recipient countries, head office and global policy spaces, Rosalind Eyben critically examines her own behaviour to explore what happens when trying to improve people s lives in far-away countries and warns how self-deception may construct obstacles to the very change desired, considering the challenge to traditional aid practices posed by new donors like Brazil who speak of history and relationships. The book proposes that to help make this a better world, individuals and organisations working in international development must respond self-critically to the dilemmas of power and knowledge that shape aid s messy relations.

Written in an accessible way with vignettes, stories and dialogue, this critical history of aid provides practical tools and methodology for students in development studies, anthropology and international studies and for development practitioners to adopt the habit of reflexivity when helping to make a better world."

Feminists in Development Organizations arises from a collaborative project between 2007 and 2012 in which a group of feminists working inside the head offices of multilateral organizations, government aid agencies and international non-governmental organizations came together to critically reflect on their work. The personal stories in this book show that these feminists are 'tempered radicals' positioned on the border of the development agencies that employ them. It is a place where they are neither fully one thing nor another: neither fully paid-up, pen-pushing bureaucrats, nor full-blown feminist activists on the barricades. Nevertheless, feminist bureaucrats see their work as urgent, essential and a necessary contribution to global efforts to achieve women's rights. This book reflects on the progress of gender mainstreaming. It shows how feminists can build effective strategies to influence development organizations to foster greater understanding and forge more effective alliances for social change. This book is aimed at staff of development organizations - who want their organizations to become an instrument in helping transforming the lives of women - and at students and researchers concerned with the politics of gender mainstreaming.

- Comprehensive examination of how labels such as 'The Poor, ' or 'Asylum Seeker' are created and applied and how these labels shape power relations in development and aid work- Authored by leading development practitioners and researchers from the Institute of Development Studies and including international case studies addressing gender, race, religion, poverty and power in various contexts- Hands-on recommendations for tackling stigmatizing labels and methods for creating new, empowering labels and constructive ways to frame development problemsWhat does it mean to be part of the mass known as "The Poor"? What visions are conjured up in our minds when someone is labeled Muslim? And what assumptions do we make about their needs, desirability, security and disposability? How do we react individually and as a society? Who develops these labels, what power do the labels carry and how do such labels affect how people are treated?This timely book tackles the critical and controversial issue of how people are labeled and categorized and how their problems are framed and dealt with. Drawing on vast international experience and current theory, the authors examine how labels are constituted and applied by governments and aid agencies. It also examines how power relations are amplified or set on collision courses by labeling, and how the labeled view themselves and often act contrary to their externally applied labels or, in some cases, accept the labels. Coverage includes analysis of labels in current development and aid practice in a number of contexts. Importantly, the authors provide suggestions for how policy makers and professionals can tackle negative forms of labeling, including howcounter-labeling might influence key concerns such as poverty reduction, human rights, race relations, and security.

* Leading development specialists such as Robert Chambers outline a new aid system that will actually work for people in need * Provides a much needed critical assessment of why the current top-down international aid system is failing those in poverty * Key examples of successes and failures from DFID, SIDA, and Action Aid, some of the largest and most influential governmental and NGO aid agencies Events such as Live 8 and the G8 Summit focusing on aid and poverty relief have turned the world spotlight on these issues like never before. Yet the top-down international aid system is failing to respond to the needs of the very people it purports to help, and is thus failing in the task of reducing poverty and building global security. This book, authored by an internationally renowned group of aid practitioners, cuts to the root of the problem, which is that policy prescription and an overwhelming concern with measuring financial results mean that aid organizations treat recipients as powerless, voiceless entities rather than active partners in a working relationship. The solution is for aid agencies to reorient their priorities and learn how to build lasting partnerships that transfer power to the very people locked in poverty. More than just a critique, the authors offer a practical framework for understanding relationships in the international aid system and look at the relevance of organizational learning theory that is widely used in business. The Contributors: Katherine Pasteur, Institute of Development Studies (IDS); Rosalind David and Antonella Mancini, Action Aid; Patta Scott Villiers, IDS; Andrea Cornwall, IDS; Garrett Pratt, CIDA; Robert Chambers, IDS; Renwick Irvine, EmilyLarbi Jones, and Ana Cortes, DFID; Rosalind Eyben and Cathy Shutt, IDS; Fiona Wilson, University of Roskilde, Denmark; John Crabtree, independent development consultant, Oxford; and Irene Gujit, Learning by Design Consultants. (Companion to Inclusive Aid, ISBN 1 84407 033 6)