Call for experiences for two special thematic issues of

Universitas Forum: International Journal on Human Development and

International Cooperation

The project “Innovative practices of decentralization, local development and women’s

empowerment” is being implemented by UNOPS’ Universitas Programme in collaboration with
the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, Unifem’s MyDEL Programme,
UN-HABITAT’s Gender Division and the Huairou Commission. It aims to develop material for use
in policy fora and as educational material for university teaching and professional development
related to gender and local development. In particular, it will address the much-debated relationship
between women’s agency, decentralization and local human development.

The project intends to support the systematization (in the form of case studies, short videos,
manuals, teaching units or other forms) of innovative experiences of local development that have
empowered women and advanced women’s rights and their transformative agency, from
which lessons for future actions and policies can be derived.

The editorial board will give priority to experiences and key practices from the south that have not
yet been systematized and documented and that can contribute to knowledge creation and to
developing tools for those practically engaged in local development in different contexts. 15 such
experiences will receive a research grant of 2,000 USD each intended to support the
systematization process. Those experiences that are not selected for research grants, but which
Universitas Forum would be pleased to publish will also be indicated.

Universitas Forum will publish two special thematic issues as part of this project:

1. Decentralization, local governance and women’s rights

This topic has been widely researched and debated over the last decade and the findings have made
a significant contribution to public policies to promote gender equity and to the debate regarding the

Innovative practice: Decentralization, local development and women’s empowerment:

call for experiences
impact of decentralization and women’s participation in local government on women’s rights and
empowerment and their access to public services.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Potentially innovative experiences related to women’s participation on issues of particular
concern to them such as land tenure, safety, violence, urban planning, care, service access
and others in which women have exercised their transformative agency, and of the methods
and tools successfully used. What results have been achieved that have the potential for
replication?
- Innovative methods and techniques of “engendered” social mobilization, local participation,
and negotiation in development planning and of the results these have achieved in terms of
the quality of local development for men and women.
- Potentially innovative examples of women’s participation in local governance and local
development that have systematically connected action at the local level with action at sub-
national, national and international levels. What effects has multi-level governance had on
women’s empowerment and their ability to be agents for positive change?

2. Local development and women’s empowerment

The second theme, which has been less widely researched, will address the ways in which local
development strategies can foster women’s empowerment and also how women have acted as
important and transformative agents of wider processes of local development.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Innovative strategies that have fostered women’s empowerment and have enabled them to
be transformative agents of local development. What tools and methods have allowed them
to achieve this?
- Women’s role in the local economy and their contribution to local development as “agents”
of local economies and of the social and solidarity economy1

1 See Universitas Forum vol.1, n.3, 2010.

Innovative practice: Decentralization, local development and women’s empowerment:

call for experiences
 - The relationship between “territory” and “gender”. How can these two approaches to
development be complementary and mutually reinforcing? Can this combination positively
address the problem of social inequality that continues to exist in countries and regions?
- Examples of the agency of women as producers of knowledge as well as of commodities
- Strategies and approaches that systematically connect the local with other levels of action.

The two issues of Universitas Forum will contribute to generating, strengthening, and
disseminating knowledge on the themes discussed above. In particular they will:
- produce knowledge on methods, tools and strategies in forms that are accessible to and
usable by policy makers, researchers, students, NGOs, cities and local authorities, and
development practitioners;
- strengthen strategic alliances between universities, research institutions, grassroots
organizations, local authorities and other actors working on local development and women’s
empowerment so as to promote the research-policy-practice nexus;
- produce documentation that is “reader-friendly” and in attractive formats and mediums, and
that can be used both in academic and professional training courses;
- promote and exchange innovative ways of addressing challenges that are faced in the field
of local development and women’s empowerment from different contexts

Submission details:
Individuals, organizations and community groups that wish to submit their experience should
complete the attached template and email it as a word document to Roberta Pellizzoli
(robertap@unops.org) by December 10, 2010, including their personal data and CV (or, in case of
organizations and community groups, a short description of their work).

Applications will be accepted in English, Spanish and French. Material for final publication will be
accepted in any one of these languages. Universitas Forum also publishes articles in Italian,
providing that a translation in one of the other three languages is provided by the authors.

Innovative practice: Decentralization, local development and women’s empowerment:

call for experiences
The selected applicants (including those who have been awarded the grant) will be informed by
email by December 20, 2010. The final product must be submitted no later than 30 March 2011.

Editorial Board:
Eileen Alma (International Development Research Centre, Canada), Rita Cassisi (MyDEL-
UNIFEM, Guatemala), Lucia Kiwala (UN-HABITAT, Kenya), Ananya Mukherjee Reed (York
University, Canada), Bianca Pomeranzi (Italian Development Cooperation, Senegal), Gabriella
Rossetti (University of Ferrara, Italy), Sarah Silliman (Huairou Commission, US).

For further information:

Further information on Universitas Forum can be found at:
http://www.universitasforum.org/index.php/ojs/index
For any other information and request please contact Roberta Pellizzoli: robertap@unops.org

Innovative practice: Decentralization, local development and women’s empowerment:

call for experiences