12/05/2011
By Anne Schoenstein and Cecilia Alemany
Contributors: Natalie Raaber, Diana Aguiar, Alejandra Scampini, Fernanda
Hopenhaym, Verónica Vidal, and Ivahanna Larrosa
AWID is pleased to announce the launch of the final version of the discussion paper Development Cooperation Beyond the Aid Effectiveness Paradigm: A women’s rights perspective. This important publication unpacks how women’s rights advocates envision a development cooperation framework that takes into account gender equality and women's rights and that is truly inclusive, sustainable and just.
International cooperation based on states’ obligations plays a crucial role in the survival of poor people - the majority of whom are women - particularly in times of crisis. However, the present development cooperation system and the policies promoted through it often lead neither to sustainable development nor to the realization of human rights and thus women’s rights and gender equality.
Women’s rights advocates aim to shift the current development cooperation system, which is strongly dominated by OECD countries, and the development discourse towards a truly inclusive, sustainable, and just framework, a framework that recognizes and values reproductive and care work and enables all people to fulfill their rights, engage in policy processes, and promote their own development vision, based on their local experiences and responses free from violence. Such a reform of the international development cooperation system is part of a broader reform needed – in terms of the role of international financial institutions and the need for a more inclusive and participatory global governance structure.
AWID’s discussion paper stresses that these reforms should not be decided or implemented by groups of countries, but rather under the institutional umbrella of the United Nations.