"Thank you Mollie IFAD Projects are using the Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) methodology for changing of social norms towards WEE."
Monthly Corner
Astha Ramaiya [Co-author] Shared the Journal Article - Published in Child Abuse & Neglect, June 2026
A new systematic review published in Child Abuse & Neglect examined the link between mental health and technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (TF-CSEA). Analysing 10 studies with over 25,000 participants across seven countries, researchers found that depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and prior trauma were consistently associated with victimisation. Crucially, the relationship appears bidirectional with mental health difficulties both preceding and resulting from exploitation; creating potential cycles of repeated harm. Perhaps most striking: traditional parental monitoring through technological surveillance showed limited protective effects. What actually mattered? The quality of parent-child relationships including, open communication, emotional warmth, and trust. The findings suggest prevention efforts should combine universal school-based programmes building emotional resilience with targeted support for high-risk youth, while parent education should prioritise connection over control. With 12.5% of children globally experiencing online solicitation annually, understanding these psychological pathways is essential for effective child protection.
Alok Srivastava, Vasanti Rao & Amita Puri Article on International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, January 2026
Tara Prasad Article on Challanges and Lessons Learns of GESI responsive and inclusive conservatiom practices, Nepal
Ritu Dewan & Swati Raju Article on Economic and Political Weekly
Viera Schioppetto shared Thesis on Gender Approach in Development Projects
Events
Vacancies
- Seeking Senior Analyst - IPE Global
About the job
IPE Global Ltd. is a multi-disciplinary development sector consulting firm offering a range of integrated, innovative and high-quality services across several sectors and practices. We offer end-to-end consulting and project implementation services in the areas of Social and Economic Empowerment, Education and Skill Development, Public Health, Nutrition, WASH, Urban and Infrastructure Development, Private Sector Development, among others.
Over the last 26 years, IPE Global has successfully implemented over 1,200 projects in more than 100 countries. The group is headquartered in New Delhi, India with five international offices in United Kingdom, Kenya, Ethiopia, Philippines and Bangladesh. We partner with multilateral, bilateral, governments, corporates and not-for-profit entities in anchoring development agenda for sustained and equitable growth. We strive to create an enabling environment for path-breaking social and policy reforms that contribute to sustainable development.
Role Overview
IPE Global is seeking a motivated Senior Analyst – Low Carbon Pathways to strengthen and grow its Climate Change and Sustainability practice. The role will contribute to business development, program management, research, and technical delivery across climate mitigation, carbon markets, and energy transition. This position provides exceptional exposure to global climate policy, finance, and technology, working with a team of high-performing professionals and in collaboration with donors, foundations, research institutions, and public agencies.
Itad’s 4 top takeaways from the SEEP Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum
Did you know that there are more CEOs in Australia called John than there are CEOs that are women? And that in 95% of economies in Sub-Saharan Africa there is at least one law impeding women’s economic opportunities? These laws include everything from restrictions on married women opening bank accounts, to signing contracts and travelling outside the home.
There are barriers to women’s economic empowerment in all parts of the world; both developed and developing countries. Last week the SEEP team brought together leading stakeholders working towards Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) to facilitate dialogue, build learning connections, and promote policies and practices which address these inequalities all around the world.
So, what were the hot topics and key developments that everyone was talking about at the forum? Here are my four most interesting takeaways from the week:
- Social norms present some of the toughest barriers to women’s economic empowerment. Presenters including Oxfam, Banyan Global, and CARE all shared experience from their programmes where norms around women’s roles in the household, their bargaining power, social status, and mobility prevent transformational change for women. Referring to harmful cultural norms, Naila Kabeer commented in her opening key note that ‘the failure to factor in (these) non-economic constraints means that programmes may fail’. The feedback from practitioners is that whilst most WEE programmes are ‘norms aware’ – they seek to circumvent norms through workarounds – there is still work to do in making programmes ‘norms transformative’, which would entail directly addressing harmful social norms. More work needs to be done to integrate this thinking into financial inclusion programmes in particular, and more guidance is needed on how to measure changes in social norms. As monitoring, evaluation and learning specialists, this is where Itad can play a role, drawing on our experience from social norms programmes such as Voices for Change (V4C).
- Women are not a homogenous group. This was a recurring criticism of WEE programme design across the board at the conference. There was a common recognition that more needs to be done to recognise how different groups of women have different needs and face varying barriers. Best practice for WEE programmes needs to include an understanding of these differences across ethnicity, religion, age, marital status, and education. The UNCDF’s new Participation of Women in the Economy Realized (PoWER) initiative presented a great example of how these nuances can be integrated into an analytical framework.
- There is room to be more ambitious with our definition of empowerment. There still needs to be more clarity on what we mean by economic empowerment, and we need to be more ambitious than simply aspiring to increase the economic resources women have access and control over. Naila Kabeer gave a fantastic talk arguing that this limited understanding of empowerment is a ‘truncated understanding of the challenge of change’, and that we need to go beyond this and aim to increase women’s voice, confidence, safety and role within communities. A good example of this came from Sonia Jordan’s presentation on how ELAN RDC is going beyond increasing women’s access and agency, to aspiring towards genuine and transformational changes to women’s roles within value chains.
- The legal side of things really matters. To improve WEE, we need to address the laws that treat men and women differently in ways that affect women’s economic opportunities. The World Bank presented its 2016 Women, Business and the Law report, which found that only 18 economies in the world, including Namibia and South Africa, have no legal barriers to women’s economic opportunities. Itad manages the cross-DFID lesson learning workstream of TheBusiness Environment Reform Facility (BERF) programme and recently worked on this research showing that the strongest evidence that business environment reform improves women’s economic empowerment are in land titles and labour laws.
These issues all pose complex questions, and there is a lot of work to be done to find answers, but the biggest strength of the conference was how it inspired and rejuvenated attendees. It was invigorating meeting people from all over the world and hearing about the exciting advances being made to increase WEE. So, lots of work to do, but lots of energy to do it!
Add a Comment
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Comment by Rukmini Panda on July 10, 2017 at 21:15
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Really interesting. Thanks a lot for posting.
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Comment by Margerit Roger on July 6, 2017 at 7:49
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Really interesting! Thanks for posting this. Great links, too.
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Comment by Shipra Deo on July 5, 2017 at 9:21
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Great discussions happened at WEE forum, issues placed very aptly in the blog. Thank you for sharing.
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Comment by Yigebashal K. M. on July 4, 2017 at 18:23
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Thank you Mollie. This a great work that should continue in the region. This reminded me of Women's Development Initiatives Project, a similar project in Ethiopia that worked on women economic and social empowerment.
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Comment by Maggie Schmeitz on July 4, 2017 at 17:22
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Thank you Mollie for a concise and sharp summary of takewaways. I am currently involved in a course on the Care Economy and some points just make a lot of things fall into place, thanks much!
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Comment by Annastacia Nthenya Olembo on July 4, 2017 at 13:06
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Fantastic read and good emerging practices around WEE. Let us expound more on analytical framework and the rigid social norms.
Annastacia
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Comment by Pradeep Kumar Panda on July 4, 2017 at 13:01
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Good insights
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Comment by Rituu B Nanda on July 4, 2017 at 12:20
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ADELINE MUHEEBWA posted a status
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Molie, this is an excellent reflection on the event. Thanks a lot! Those like me who were not present can learn from you. Did someone from Itad present?
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