Impact of International Assistance on Women's Organizations in The Balkans
Description
Exploring impact of international assistance on women's organizations in the Balkans contributes to debates about democracy assistance, transnational networks, women's solidarity, post-conflict strategies and development partnerships. I examine these issues from the position of participant-observer of women's organizing in Yugoslavia and its successor states from 1986 to the present, and one who played a role in international assistance for 12 years.
This paper explores the following questions:
How did the prior existence of a women's movement in Yugoslavia, the wars of the Yugoslav breakup, and post-war regional relations effect assistance and vice versa? What happened to the women's organizations that received international assistance and were part of international solidarity networks? What was the donor-recipient relationship? Whose agenda was pursued? Was there NGOization of social movements? What was the long-term impact on advocacy, community development, and network building locally, regionally and internationally?
Lessons learned and legacy will be considered in relation to global debates about transnational solidarity, social movements, and international assistance.
This paper is interdisciplinarily located in the intersection of sociology of social movements and transnational networks, gender studies, and international development. It is the result of ongoing primary and secondary research on the topic that was conducted during my sabbatical. Primary sources include field work (interviews, observation, participant-observation) conducted since 1986 including my MA thesis and articles as well as a book manuscript in preparation. Secondary sources include wide reading on the theme within development and sociology research primarily from Central and Eastern Europe and from the US.
A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Boston in November 2009.
Impact of International Assistance on Women's Organizations in The Balkans
Exploring impact of international assistance on women's organizations in the Balkans contributes to debates about democracy assistance, transnational networks, women's solidarity, post-conflict strategies and development partnerships. I examine these issues from the position of participant-observer of women's organizing in Yugoslavia and its successor states from 1986 to the present, and one who played a role in international assistance for 12 years.
This paper explores the following questions:
How did the prior existence of a women's movement in Yugoslavia, the wars of the Yugoslav breakup, and post-war regional relations effect assistance and vice versa? What happened to the women's organizations that received international assistance and were part of international solidarity networks? What was the donor-recipient relationship? Whose agenda was pursued? Was there NGOization of social movements? What was the long-term impact on advocacy, community development, and network building locally, regionally and internationally?
Lessons learned and legacy will be considered in relation to global debates about transnational solidarity, social movements, and international assistance.
This paper is interdisciplinarily located in the intersection of sociology of social movements and transnational networks, gender studies, and international development. It is the result of ongoing primary and secondary research on the topic that was conducted during my sabbatical. Primary sources include field work (interviews, observation, participant-observation) conducted since 1986 including my MA thesis and articles as well as a book manuscript in preparation. Secondary sources include wide reading on the theme within development and sociology research primarily from Central and Eastern Europe and from the US.
A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Boston in November 2009.