Strengthening women's citizenship in the context of state building
There is great interest within the international community in how to ‘rebuild’ fragile states, but the new state building approaches that are emerging are weakened by their lack of gender analysis.
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The intensive state building processes that are undertaken in fragile environments can fundamentally alter the structures of the country and its relationship to its citizens, and therefore have the potential to enhance women's citizenship; strengthening female rights and participation in political life. However, in order to harness this potential, these approaches must engage with existing knowledge about women's relationship to the state; examine how state building affects women and men differently; and ask in what ways women can participate in state building and what type of processes enhance the state's accountability to them.
This FRIDE research project aims to inform state building processes that result in stronger citizenship for women by addressing the above questions. It will develop recommendations for international actors and national policy makers working in fragile countries on how they can strengthen the gender focus within their state building strategies. It will also promote greater gender analysis within state building theory and research.
The project involves case studies in six fragile contexts - Burundi, Colombia, Guatemala, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Sudan. It is being conducted in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute and with research organisations in the focus countries. The project is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AECID and NORAD. It will run until March 2011.
Related publications
- The security sector in Burundi: gradually opening to women
- The issue of inheritance for women in Burundi
- Building a state that works for women: Integrating gender into post-conflict state building
- Colombian institutional development: challenges to building an inclusive and participatory state
- Women's citizenship in contexts of political and institutional reform in fragile states. The Colombian case
- Strenghtening Women's Citizenship: Kosovo security sector and decentralisation
- Strengthening women's citizenship in the context of state building: Guatemala
- The state and women's citizenship in Guatemala
- Women's political participation and influence in Sierra Leone
- Building accountable justice in Sierra Leone
- Strengthening women's citizenship-Seminar
- Inclusive citizenship research project: methodology
- Strengthening Women's Citizenship: Sierra Leone
