DEVT 2101 - Empowerment, Gender & Community Development

This course investigates crucial interconnections between empowerment, gender and community development, examining the ways in which gender and community participation, influence development policies, processes and programs; and the extent to which development, gendered relations, and communities are transformed in the process. It examines key concepts and theoretical frameworks of development with a particular focus on the intersection of development terms such as community, participation, sustainability, gender, equality & empowerment, in light of current issues in development discourse and critical analysis of development practice and policy. In the course, then, we explore the use of certain concepts and ideals, such as empowerment, gender equality, sustainable development, as well as central issues in development practice and policy. These include the interaction between poverty and gender; the empowerment of women through work and microfinance/credit; and the proposed empowerment of communities (and countries) through the ‘girl effect’. The complexities of corporate community development are also examined, as is the practice of tourism (volunteer/cultural) as sustainable community development; the issue of gendered violence, legislation and human rights at the level of local communities; and an analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals from the standpoint of gender and the community.