Women’s Empowerment and the Retreat of International Development Aid: Lessons from the Grassroots in Lima and El Alto

• In Event: Community-based participatory development: Lessons and Challenges from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia

Abstract

What happens when decades-old NGOs with successful track records confront sharp cuts in international development aid? Examining two organizations that have faced funding cuts, this paper explores the interplay of international and local partnerships and agendas to better understand how grassroots non-profits navigate funding crises that are increasingly common among Latin American development organizations. In Lima, Peru, the Casa de Panchita community center for domestic workers tried in vain to find new funders to allow it to buy its building, but ultimately was forced to relocate to a smaller space in a less suitable location. In El Alto, Bolivia, the Gregoria Apaza Center for the Promotion of Women was no longer able to afford its two properties and consolidated operations into a single building. Both organizations focus on the empowerment of women and, buoyed by many years of experience, both organizations have survived, but how has their work been affected by these shifts? Themes of partnership, empowerment, and space are explored in the context of shrinking international aid.

Author

• Paul G Dosh, Macalester College