Last May, ISID, in partnership with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), launched the(GRS) to advance scholarly research on women’s economic empowerment and economic growth in developing countries. The GRS is also the official, though not exclusive, research platform for the a multi-funder partnership between the UK Government’s Department for International Development, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and IDRC.
Through the dissemination of and other the GRS serves as an online open-access platform for current research in Canada and globally. The goal of the series, and the GrOW program more widely, is to promote evidence-based programming and policy-making on women’s economic empowerment. This is especially valuable and timely work as Canada sets out to achieve the goals outlined in its released in June 2017.
Research published in the GRS is mobilizing new evidence on what works, and does not work, to economically empower women in developing countries. This includes research produced by two McGill-led GrOW studies, one on to promote maternal employment outcomes in a Nairobi slum, and another on the influence of on women’s empowerment in India. Other research published in the GRS identifies strategies to improve gender dynamics in and to promote women’s employment and entrepreneurship in to name a few examples.
Work featured in the GRS is also promoting new models that seek to improve development practice. A recent working paper and policy brief authored by ISID Director, Sonia Laszlo, and colleagues, points to the lack on convention onamong development scholars and practitioners, and offers several recommendations for moving forward on this issue. Understanding the conceptual and methodological challenges of measuring of women’s economic empowerment is crucial to design and evaluate development programs effectively.
By disseminating the findings of research taking place around the world, the GRS is helping to build Canada’s evidence base on women’s economic empowerment. In connection with this aim, ISID’s annual conference on March 15-16 looks to “unpack” the agenda of women’s empowerment in global development with an interdisciplinary group of experts, and examine some of the recent evidence on empowerment initiatives in resource-poor settings.
Dr. Kate Grantham is a Research Associate at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ’s Institute for the Study of International Development. She is also the Managing Editor of the GrOW Research Series. Her research is focused on gender and development, women’s economic empowerment, international volunteering and the internationalization of Canadian higher education.
