ABSTRACT Although it is increasingly well-known that mining generates a vast array of gendered impacts, less studied is how women in mining zones have turned to online social media to articulate concerns and mobilise for collective action. This article explores how gendered social media communication has conveyed injustices experienced by women in Zimbabwe’s diamond-mining areas and produced spaces of feminist solidarity in navigating structural violence, offering mutual support, and sharing daily developments and strategic initiatives. While Zimbabwe’s diamond-mining controversies have transformed over the years, communication online has continued to occur under the gaze of online state surveillance, and online spaces are never risk-free spaces. Seeking equitable development and inserting into politically sensitive topics, sensibilities of ‘online’ community-building have been different across a range of contexts and for different people. We explore communication online, bringing together discussions of gender-focused critiques of mining megaprojects, state violence, and feminist research in online spaces.

ABSTRACT The relative lack of women’s participation in energy-related development projects around the world to transform agricultural productivity has been a source of significant concern globally. Out of 181 countries, Niger holds the current position for being the second most vulnerable to climate change. Despite the emphasis on women’s participation in solar-powered irrigation initiatives in Niger in energy project documents, their actual participation in renewable energy remains low. This article reviews the literature on renewable energy access and rural women in Niger, and argues that proactive actions could be taken sooner and more effectively to strengthen women’s participation in solar-powered irrigation technology if driven by a dialogical feminist approach. A key example is Dimitra Clubs, a well-established gender-transformative initiative piloted in Niger.

ABSTRACT Extinction Rebellion (XR) is an international, non-violent movement against the climate and ecological crises that threaten our planet. This article is based on reflections and joint discussions on what it is to be women ‘rebels’ at the grassroots of this movement, utilising the feminist practice of ‘active listening’ to counter women’s experiences of being silenced or ignored. Our point of departure in writing this article was the idea that even in the most progressive movements, structures and dynamics tend to mirror unequal gender relations typical of wider society. Despite our differences in age, background, and experiences as activists, our conversations led us to agree that the values and culture of XR allow us, as women and as feminists, to be comfortable in our skin; to be heard; to be bold in challenging stereotypes, explore and express new and sometimes painful emotions, and push social and personal boundaries. We felt that XR also experiences some challenges: a reluctance to embrace more explicitly ‘climate justice’, an insufficient concern for gender equality as part of its focus on this, and echoes of essentialist links between women and nature.

Leena Vastapuu’s recent book Liberia’s Women’s Veterans: War, Roles and Reintegration provides a comprehensive and complex account of the lives of 133 female ex-combatants of Liberia’s civil wars, ...

ABSTRACTUnequal power relations exist between the global North and the global South, between those in need of ‘development’ and the development policymakers and practitioners who work with them in projects and programmes intending to meet their needs – and, less often, support those in need to challenge the underlying inequalities that create these inequities. These relations are a legacy of colonialism. Critical reflection offers a way of raising awareness and ‘outing’ inequality between development workers and the women and men seen as ‘beneficiaries’ of their initiatives. This article explores the use of critical reflection by a small group of women development practitioners with a background in social work. The members of the group were interviewed about their engagement with varying reflective practices while working in various global communities. In particular, participants commonly spoke of how critical reflection unsettled their sense of ‘expertise’ and encouraged increased questioning of both their perceived and real positions of power within development. The use of critical reflection also enabled an examination of language and biases within international development work. Through their critically reflective analyses of power, these women were able to negotiate and re-conceptualise their relationships with the local members of the communities in which they worked. The article concludes with a discussion on why development organisations should support practitioners with opportunities to engage in formalised organisational and individual reflection in their everyday work. The increased awareness created opens up the possibility to reform and revitalise development so it becomes a partnership involving mutual exchanges, solidarity, and respect.

ABSTRACTOver the past 30 years, new frameworks and procedures have influenced the language of development, as well as the understanding of what ‘good development’ and success look like. While feminist concepts have been incorporated into some of these approaches, the core challenges of patriarchy, race, as well as class and gender inequalities are not centre stage. Approaches that address development as a complex political project have receded (though not disappeared), and given way to a development characterised by logic language, technical changes, planned and achievable in the short term, measured by standard metrics. This article is a personal reflection by a long-term feminist in development about the power of language, policies, and procedures in shaping the work, and the need to reconnect to the roots of feminism to reimagine a more radical and transformative development.

ABSTRACTThis article draws on our experience of implementing RootsLab, a feminist programme piloted in Lebanon by Oxfam, Global Fund for Women, FRIDA|Young Feminist Fund, and Young Foundation. It works with young grassroots activists, supporting feminist movement building. Here, we reflect critically on RootsLab, and its place and role in the wider development system. RootsLab offers a unique perspective on navigating challenges and capturing learning, to demystify feminist practices and make an effective case for a transformed ecosystem that is conducive to sustainable feminist change. Feminist principles, approaches, and tools aim to challenge power imbalances embedded in our programmes and are intentionally political and transformative. However, they are often criticised for being idealistic, with unattainable goals. It is important to step away from both romanticisation and paralysing criticism – which is often rooted in patriarchal thinking. And it remains essential to work towards that ideal. But, given the restrictive realities of the current development ecosystem, how do we then translate feminist values into all aspects of our programme?

ABSTRACTThis article discusses using feminist methods of reflexive practice to support and learn about the well-being of researchers working on gender-based violence research in South Sudan. In particular, we focus on the experiences of South Sudanese researchers undertaking this research in their own country. We share key findings and offer personal reflections on and suggestions for improving fieldwork. As feminists ourselves we placed a high value on sharing personal reflections on emotional challenges that the research team faced. However, our South Sudanese colleagues did not find these approaches very useful, preferring to discuss technical challenges, and placed emphasis on the importance of professionalism. This experience suggests the need for more culturally diverse feminist research tools, and for better recognition of the crucial role played by national researchers in international research projects. We end with recommendations.