Are Corporations Taking Over the Development Agenda? The Human Rights Paradoxes of Nike's Girl Empowerment Programs

• In Event: 097 - Section on Human Rights Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Human Rights Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Rights and Empowerment

Abstract

Since 2008, Multinational Corporation Nike has dedicated its Foundation to empowering adolescent girls in the Global South. Its Girl Effect program has been rolled out across the South and partners and gained increasing legitimacy as 'the formula' to tap into girls' potential to solve poverty. The Girl Effect principles are the basis of the Girl Declaration, a lit of principles that aim to channel trillions of development dollars towards girl-focused programs. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, UN Women and The White House are amongst the Declaration's Backers. My research, however, exposes eight human rights paradoxes in the Girl Effect. I argue that the UN's endorsement of Nike's girl-logic is a symptom of rising power of corporations in the development policy and is part of an imperial project to consolidate global capitalism.

Author

• Maria Elizabeth Hengeveld, Columbia University