Terms of Reference
African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI)
Development of Module on The Global Financial Architecture and the Gendered impacts of Austerity
‘Before even the British came into relations with our people, we were a developed people, having our own institutions, having our own ideas of government.’ Walter Rodney.
1.0. Introduction
These Terms of Reference serve as guidelines for developing the module on “Global Financial Architecture and the gendered impacts of Austerity”. This module is part of the wider curriculum for Feminist and Transformational Leadership Development conducted under Akina Mama wa Afrika’s (AMwA) flagship programme, the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI).
2.0. Background
In line with AMwA’s mission to “Build feminist leadership and collective power to deconstruct intersectional systems of oppression to advance gender and social justice,” the AWLI, is a space and vehicle for feminist political education. Our leadership programme is the first step of, and an indispensable component of our feminist movement building toolkit, creating opportunities for awakening feminist consciousness and organizing based on solidarity premised on shared values and issues. Through the AWLI, AMwA contributes to the growth and strengthening of the feminist movement in Africa by raising the political consciousness of change-makers including young feminists, gender justice advocates, women’s rights activists and civil and political leaders who are provided with the tools, networks and resources to disrupt the status quo in their spheres of influence. We see feminist leadership development as a continuous process of growth which requires nurturing through community support and modeling feminist leadership principles.
3.0. Objective of the module
This module aims to bring into focus the intricate position of African economies in the current global financial system; and how this positioning has worked to reinforce inequality in the social, economic and political spectrum against Africa in general and marginalized groups in particular. These inherent inequalities of this global financial architecture have implications for the pace of financing public services, industrialisation, trade, taxation, debt management, structural transformation, and the broader realization of the sustainable development goals across the continent.
Through this module, we seek to critique the neoliberal capitalist system and its underlying orthodox economic theory that is gendered, exploitative, and extractive and yet continue to shape the global financial architecture. Using the gendered impacts of austerity measures broadly and in the health sector on women in all their diversities, we hope that this module will inspire as well as help participants to understand the urgency to confront and transform the current global financial architecture.
Specifically, we hope that through this module will:
- provide a historical account of the Global Financial Architecture, and the genesis of austerity measures including how colonial legacies, and early post independence conditionalities of the World Bank and IMF continue to shape how African economies generate, utilize, redistribute and account for their resources and revenue
- Provide a political economy analysis of aid, debt, and tax and how this has shaped Africa’s approach to health care
- foster an understanding of the connection between reforming the global financial and governance systems and the realization of gender justice, particularly, women’s sexual reproductive health and rights,
- facilitate the development of critical thinking skills for the application of principles of anti-capitalism, anti-colonialism, anti-neoliberalism, reparative justice and intersectionality in analyzing national, regional, and global development financing systems, structures, mechanisms, and programmes from a feminist perspective,
- make the case for why reforming the global financial architecture will also require constructive investment in decolonisation, regional collaboration, building sovereignty, and inclusive economic dynamism that centers people and the planet in Africa and the Global South.
- contribute to strengthening the feminist movement for health and gender justice, we hope that through this module, participants will develop the skills, language, and the conviction to understand and advocate for structural transformation of the global financial architecture as the cornerstone to health systems strengthening for gender and social justice.
4.0. Expected outcomes
- Participants understand the characteristics and the historical underpinnings of the current global financial architecture including the paradigm neoliberalism, financialisation, corporate capture, etc and how these exacerbate gender inequalities and government failures to center the most marginalized in society.
- Participants understand the role of colonialism, post independence conditionalities, and International Finance Institutions (IFI’s) like the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have played in preserving this status quo.
- Participants understand how the current global financial architecture and orthodox macroeconomic practices shape their everyday lives
- Participants adopt a feminist intersectional frame of analysis that connects economic justice issues to the breadth of women’s rights and begin reframing prevailing understanding of gender justice as a component of health justice.
- Participants are able to understand and recognise false ideas of development financing such as the wide range of debt instruments for financing public services, the push to leverage privatization such as Public Private Partnerships and Blended financing, Double Taxation Treaties as key tools for attracting foreign investments, among others.
- Participants understand and are able to frame feminist alternatives to the current global financial and governance architecture and ways that it can be used to achieve health gender justice
5.0. Specific deliverables/Specific tasks:
- Undertake desk review and research of existing materials in use by AMwA, partners, and other actors, and any other necessary documents available for training on feminist theory.
- Based on this research, produce a comprehensive training manual which should meeting the following parameters;
- The module should fit within a training period of 3.5 hours.
- Try as much as possible to adhere to principles of popular education, without negating the complexity of the issues being discussed.
- Prepare guiding notes for the instructor including recommended time for each session.
- Prepare materials (readings, videos, art, exercises, etc) that participants can engage with in preparation for the class, or that they can read at their own leisure to deepen their understanding of the subject. If necessary, prepare tasks that participants can undertake before or after the class to further their understanding of the subject.
- This module shall be piloted after which the module developer is expected to incorporate feedback to improve the module where gaps have been observed.
6.0 Timeframe:
This assignment will be undertaken for a period of 3 person-days.
7.0 Fees and expense structure
The consultant shall be paid a fee of $500 per day inclusive of incidental costs and related taxes.
8.0 Reporting:
The work will be carried out in close coordination with the Programme Lead- Economic Justice and Climate Action.
9.0. Who can apply and how?
- African feminists with expertise in feminist education, research, and knowledge generation and experience in designing feminist advocacy strategies
- If this is you, send;
- Your CV (not more than 3 pages/) detailing relevant experience in similar tasks, and at least 2 references.
- An expression of interest (not exceeding two pages) explaining why you are the most suitable person for the task,
- And provide a brief methodology on how you will approach the task to [email protected] by 9th October 2023.
If this opportunity suits you or someone in your network, please share it as widely as you can.
