Gender-Power Relations in International Development Discourse and Practice: The Case of USAID in Post-Ebola Liberia
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Date
2022-10-26
Authors
Amevor, Elinam
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Liberia became the United States’ priority in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in West Africa between 2014 and 2015. After the epidemic was officially declared over in May 2015, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) restructured three interventions—the Land Governance Support Activity, Feed the Future initiative, and the Maternal and Child Health program to empower Liberians, particularly women, who were the most affected by the epidemic. Drawing on modernization theory, critical approaches such as political economy, postcolonial theory, and feminist perspectives on development, this dissertation examines the gender-power relations that characterized the discourse and practice of international development in post-Ebola Liberia.
Data were collected via in-depth interviews with development officials implementing the three USAID-funded interventions and leaders of women’s organizations. The study also employed focus groups with rural women in six communities in Lofa and Montserrado counties in Liberia, and analysis of documents for creating awareness about the three interventions. These methods examine factors accounting for Liberia as the United States’ priority in response to Ebola, the communication strategy deployed by USAID, gender representation in the design and implementation of the strategy, and its impact on women’s participation and empowerment in the development process in post-Ebola Liberia.
The study finds that the United States’ priority of Liberia is mainly ideological and humanitarian in nature, based on the position of Liberia as the most affected by Ebola. Thus, USAID’s role in post-Ebola Liberia is a moral responsibility that the international community expects the U.S. to fulfil. Regarding the strategy, the study observes that USAID uses a formal communication approach that is designed and implemented by male development practitioners to promote development interventions that are predominantly women sensitive. The study further observes how the elitist representation of women, whose orientation differs from those at the grassroots, departs from USAID’s participatory approach to development. Conceptual contributions to strategic development communication with emphasis on intersectionality, and the practical implications for advocacy in public policy in sub-Saharan Africa, are discussed.